Project Top 10 Titans of SS 1v1

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clerica

fly me up to Jupiter
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:ss/victini:

What effect did this Pokemon have on the metagame?

Once the dust settled following the release of DLC 2 Victini quickly rose to be by far the best mon in the meta. Capable of teching anything except like Dragapult, Regidrago, and Scarf Urshifu-Rapid. Victini has always been an incredible mon in previous generations, but with the lower power levels and addition of new moves like Encore and Scorching Sands to its movepool Victini completely dominated the meta before its eventual ban. It was capable of beating almost anything and versatile enough to be paired with anything while building as well.

How was this Pokemon used?

Victini could run pretty much anything it wanted. At the start of DLC 2 people ran the obvious choice sets, but after some time various WP sets rose to be the most popular. This was largely due to its above average bulk and its new move Encore. In prior generations, Victini had to run more proactive methods of beating stall like Trick or Taunt, but with the addition of encore to its movepool Victini could take a more passive approach and Encore any status move once they used it instead of trying to predict them clicking it. Encore also paired incredibly well with Glaciate because it allowed Victini to now reliably beat faster set up mons like Spectrier or Koko super reliably. Wisp WP variants allowed Victini to beat stuff like non Scarf Urshifus (both) and Light Screen variants could beat stuff like Primarina without having to rely on LO. As long as Victini ran a fire STAB and some kind of utility move (Encore, Wisp, Trick, etc) it was a viable set which meant it could tech anything it wanted with relatively low cost. There were way too many sets to discuss in detail individually so I'll just link the paste from zio's Victini post back in late 2020.

sets: https://pokepast.es/634ee9a4198ce3b7

What caused it to have a significant impact?

What allowed Victini to have the impact it did was its insane versatility. With perfectly rounded stats making it both faster and bulkier than almost everything and a movepool that supported both physical and special sets you never quite knew what it was going to hit you with. Alongside this there was the threat of Encore always lurking. If you set up there was a good chance you would get encore looped into oblivion, but on the flip side if you attack you more than likely will pop their WP and die as a result. Players were constantly forced to pick between 2 bad options vs Victini, both usually resulting in a loss for them.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in 1v1?

Most ways of dealing with Victini involved a bit of prayer. People often just ran "mostly" reliable checks like Urshifu, Ttar, or Twave Togekiss and prayed they didn't run into some variant that beat them. However, this was never reliable. As seen in Nalei vs Sice and HCTC vs squirtell sometimes you get subbed on and sometimes it turns out to be surprise Grass Knot Victini. One could consistently run true counters, but there were so few of those that it made building incredibly predictable especially since most of them lost to the same subset of mons like Prim, Fini, or other fairies.
 
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What effect did this Pokemon have on the metagame?

In every generation of 1v1, Snorlax is a menace. In fact, it is banned in all gens but BW and RBY. In SS, as in every other gen, Snorlax’s insane bulk, good attack, and great movepool served it extremely well. At the same time, the power level in SS is generally lower than that of the past two generations, making Snorlax unmanageable. Almost no 100% counters existed, with many matchups coming down to a setguess or a 50/50. Strong, physical Fighting types, such as Urshifu and Sawk, could beat it reliably enough, but little else could handle it, meaning Snorlax’s presence greatly restricted teambuilding and stifled creativity.

How was this Pokemon used?

Snorlax had 3 primary sets - Custap, Choice Band, and Stall/Chople. With its new tool in Encore, Snorlax's Custap set became particularly powerful this generation. After using Belly Drum to bring itself into Gluttony Custap range, Snorlax could either attack or use Encore on the next turn. Choice Band Snorlax had insane coverage, including Heat Crash for Genesect and other Steels, Gunk Shot for Fairies, and numerous niche options for whatever matchups it needed to cover. All of these coverage options were placed alongside its devastating STAB Giga Impact. Finally, Stall Snorlax, equipped with a Chople Berry, was able to defeat many Choiced physical attacker by simply clicking Counter while also acting as a blanket special wall with Amnesia.

Sets: https://pokepast.es/ec67dd64e521c289

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Snorlax's tremendous bulk, high attack, insane coverage, and access to Encore proved too much for the SS metagame to handle. It had very few reliable counters, so its presence restricted teambuilding greatly. It forced setguessing in almost every preview where it appeared, leading to outcomes where Snorlax wins even though the opponent correctly predicts it to come out. Snorlax had an extreme centralizing effect on the metagame, with every team being made to run one of its few hard counters or else deal with an absolute headache in team preview.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in 1v1?

Urshifu, Sawk, and other Fightings were pretty much the only reliable counters to Snorlax. Even then, if using any Fighting other than Sawk, one had to take care not to get Countered by Chople Snorlax. Otherwise, counters were generally set-specific and had to guess which set an opposing Snorlax was running. For example, Pluck Braviary was occasionally used as an option to defeat Custap Snorlax, but it was unable to handle Choice Band. Taunt users could handle Stall and sometimes Custap, but often lost to Choice Band. Pokemon with sufficient physical bulk and appropriate typing to handle Choice Band, meanwhile, would often find themselves losing to one or both of the other sets.
 
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Elo Bandit

youtube.com/ EloBandit
is a Community Contributor
:ss/dragapult:

What effect did this Pokemon have on the metagame?

Dragapult helped shape the SS metagame from beginning to end with its high speed and offensive stats. Two of the highest rated Pokemon in the metagame, Zeraora and Togekiss, are partially so dominant because they check Dragapult so effectively. Though it's never been a clear number one, Dragapult has always been a significant force in the 1v1 metagame.

How was this Pokemon used?

:ss/dragapult:
Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Darts
- Phantom Force
- Fire Blast
:ss/dragapult:
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- Fire Blast
:ss/dragapult:
Dragapult @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 48 HP / 248 Def / 212 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Disable
- Curse
- Phantom Force
:ss/dragapult:
Dragapult @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 76 HP / 220 Def / 212 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Substitute
- Disable

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Dragapult can run any type of set it wants (physical, special, Curse, Dragon Dance, Weakness Policy, etc.) and take advantage of the accompanying ambiguity on team preview. Dragapult has a remarkably high pick rate in tournament play - teams built around Dragapult more often than not enable it as a strong click in most situations.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in 1v1?

The aforementioned Zeraora and Togekiss can easily deal with Dragapult with super effective hits. Urshifu-Single-Strike, Choice Scarf Darmanitan-G, and Fairy-types in general beat Dragapult.
 

Elo Bandit

youtube.com/ EloBandit
is a Community Contributor

Snorlax @ Custap Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 156 HP / 88 Atk / 164 Def / 100 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Encore
- Double-Edge / Giga Impact
- Superpower / Ice Punch / Heat Crash


Snorlax @ Custap Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 140 HP / 116 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Encore
- Darkest Lariat
- Counter

Snorlax @ Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Def
Adamant Nature
- Giga Impact
- Heat Crash
- Gunk Shot
- Earthquake / Counter


Snorlax @ Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Def / 16 SpD / 120 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Giga Impact
- Heat Crash
- Gunk Shot
- Ice Punch / Heavy Slam

Snorlax @ Chople Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Counter
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Rock Tomb / Defense Curl
 
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Hello everyone, after 2 weeks we're finally done with nominations. We have a lot of fantastic nominees to choose from here, so we'd like to open the floor for discussion regarding the list of nominees, and potentially remove any that people are against. Once we do that, we'll begin formally voting!

In discussion, consider the following:
1: Try making a personal top 10 list and justify your placements!
2: Which nominees stand out to you and why?
3: Which nominees are you against and why?

Here's the list of the nominees for your convenience:
:primarina::mew::mimikyu::genesect::togekiss::sableye::sylveon::tapu fini::zygarde-complete::cinderace::necrozma::victini::dragapult::snorlax::darmanitan-galar:

We'll leave discussion and personal rankings open until August 17th!
 
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Sanshokuinsumireko

I got the baddest bitches in anime
1. Mew- https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/1v1-winter-seasonal-round-4.3659144/post-8348433
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/mew-suspect-voter-identification-thread.3659305/post-8348565
2. Sableye-
when this video dropped during the suspect test of sableye. The 1000-1600 ladder was dominated by this one team. You could not try anything out without seeing this team. Then IDK why people just only clicked sableye for reason and they were winning.
3. Victini- This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was a more solid mon than the mon below it.
4. Cinderace- This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was a more solid mon than the mon below it.
5. Mimikyu- This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was a more solid mon than the mon below it.
6. Necrozma- This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was in more metas than the mon below it.
7. Genesect- This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was a more solid mon than the mon below it.
8. Togekiss-This mon could do whatever it wanted to do and was a more solid mon than the mon below it.
9. Sylveon- This mon was one of the mons that consistently good from the base ss game. Also, Nolenot kept getting the 3 turn sleeps somehow.
10. Zygarde- This mon is boring and I never got saw the true potential.
 
1. Mew - possibly the most brokenest mon in 1v1 ever
2. Sableye - absurdly busted mon
3. Cinderace - this guy did whatever the hell he wanted and beat everything
4. Victini - similar to cinderace in versatility but with a bit more opportunity cost between sets
5. Mimikyu - disgosue
6. Snorlax - man was totally dominant and crazy centralizing for a good while before his ban
7. Togekiss - this thing was banned for good reason at one point and it's still super good and versatile, even if some of its wackier sets have fallen off
8. Zygod - fat motherfucker that won all kinds of mus it had no right to win
9. Primarina - great mon throughout this gen, it's had its ups and downs but always stayed relevant. used to be super super good and is still great
10. Necrozma - when people started experimenting with this mon it went absolutely insane and went from manageable to stupid in like a week. got to the point where any team lacking one of the few viable dark types lost to it automatically, and sometimes even dark types lost

honorable mention: Dragonite - my guy should have been nominated, multiscale was way too strong with this gen's power level
 
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Here Comes Team Charm!

Perhaps the stars
is a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
We forgot to nom nite guys

1. Mew. A strong default set that only it can pull off, combined with a lot of really good side options (band, specs, scarf, ddance LO) is archetypical of busted 1v1 mons. Stuck around for a reasonable amount of time as well.
2. Victini. Around for quite a while with virtually limitless sets. Unlike mew this had actual counters I suppose.
3. Genesect. In raw power it might've been middling, but genesect proved time and time again that its only hard counters were fires, heavily impacting the meta (while also singlehandedly destroying every single fairy, which took over the meta afterwards).
4. Snorlax. Counter + Belly Drum + Custap Encore centralized the meta all by itself and oops, turns out lax has more sets than that.
5. Cinderace. Great meta impact, forced people to look towards mons like hippowdon and milotic just to have a semi-reliable counter, incredibly customizable.
6. Mimikyu. A bit high perhaps, but mimikyu was genuinely insane in terms of what it did, what it rendered viable or not, and what teams you could viably run.
7. Sableye. Insane in terms of its meta impact, but gone after a very short amount of time and very forced into one of two sets, limiting the teams it could be used on.
8. Zyg-complete. First it forced teams to run an ice or fairy, then it turned out the fairies weren't actual counters, great mon, very customizable, huge impact.
9. Necrozma. Always felt like it had less of a meta impact than any of those: fighting mons, sturdies, and the odd poison all remained quite viable as opposed to be crushed utterly (like fairies during gene's reign) and the different necro sets had little overlap at times.
10. Dragapult. Another of those factors forcing fairies in 1v1, really dominant especially in the pre-dlc era, kept several of the above in check. Dragapult was one of my greatest annoyances while building for years, and only with the introduction of mons like landoT, urshifu, moltG, zera and the innovation of AV arcanine did this become somewhat manageable outside of fairies and scarfers. It's mid now, but the reasons why it is weren't around for a while!
 

XSTATIC COLD

Banned deucer.
:ss/Seaking:

Seaking @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Veil
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Waterfall
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
- Blizzard


Beats stall mew and offensive mew with Water weil + megahorn
Beats Victini with a lure of lightning rod (victini won't use bolt strike) + waterfall
Beats sableye with water veil + waterfall
Beats stall necrozma with megahorn crit
Beats Jirachi with drill run (high crit rate)
Beats some zygarde sets with 2x blizzard, depends if offensive or not.
Beats Togekiss if it doesn't get flinched.

Who is the king now?
 

Sanshokuinsumireko

I got the baddest bitches in anime
:ss/Seaking:

Seaking @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Veil
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Waterfall
- Drill Run
- Megahorn
- Blizzard


Beats stall mew and offensive mew with Water weil + megahorn
Beats Victini with a lure of lightning rod (victini won't use bolt strike) + waterfall
Beats sableye with water veil + waterfall
Beats stall necrozma with megahorn crit
Beats Jirachi with drill run (high crit rate)
Beats some zygarde sets with 2x blizzard, depends if offensive or not.
Beats Togekiss if it doesn't get flinched.

Who is the king now?
What happened to sealeo :(
 

bilb owo

Banned deucer.
Gloom is unique in its access to sleep powder, leech seed and strength sap. The massive bulk provided by eviolite helps make this combination of moves incredibly oppressive in the SS 1v1 metagame. As shown by venusaur the grass poison typing is invaluable as a sub seeder, as you have a type advantage over the opposing grass types that are immune to leech seed and sleep powder (with the exception of some Pokémon like venusaur and ferrothorn). With all of these tools combined many have considered gloom to be banworthy, especially considering the uncompetitive rng aspect of sleep.

‘The only thing to fear is gloom itself’- Jesus

:gloom:
 
1. Mew - Mew was comically broken. Imprison+Transform already had limited counterplay but its offensive sets were also something that had to be considered as 4 high BP coverage moves were very viable. I also learned recently that Mew didn't even get a recovery move until home LOL. I think it's fair to say Mew was close to uncounterable and the most broken mon in any gen of 1v1.
2. Sableye - Prank Encore Disable was crazy not much to say. Unlike Mew, Sab had actual counterplay (albeit incredibly limited) so it's solidly a place below.
3. Cinderace - I think anyone who says this mon is overrated was not around for the meta where it was allowed. I honestly considered putting Cinder above Sable. Between CB, Scarf, Taunt sets, random Resist Berries, etc. you could run a ton of spread to live hits that a mon so strong shouldn't be able to. It was totally Gren on crack being effectively way stronger and bulkier. Counterplay was limited to Grounds (that still had to account for Shuca Counter) and Resist berries to its stab on random shit. Even in the brief period this mon was allowed it ruined LT rounds and let two people go 1900+ using dogshit+cinder.
4. Mimikyu - Baffling to me how long this mon lasted. A lot of counterplay Mimi initially had like speed-dropping attacks and multi-hit moves did not stand the test of time either due to the optimization of offensive sets or CharmKyu. By the end of its lifespan you were limited to either running Exca (LOL!) or just setguessing. It had a lot of quirky pseudo-checks and sometimes being the wrong set was just really bad which puts it below Cinder to me.
5. Victini - The meta was incredibly warped around Vic as people optimized WP/resist berry sets and CB/Scarf were still very effective. If you wanna see this mon do crazy shit go watch the champs it ruled. Had slightly more counterplay than Mimi losing to most dragons pretty badly.
6. Snorlax - By the time this mon left the tier there were what, 5 decently consistent checks? Like Sawk the SS fossils and shifus, the former two are generally considered mediocre. BD and CB were all it really needed to be dumb. It could pick and choose checks with spread and movepool. Seeing short-lived quirky checks like Braviary and Clefable fall off cuz of CB's relevance (just run tox on cb and beat ur "hard counter" LOL.) I think the meta was so centralized around it that upon its removal we never saw Clef for the remainder of the PL it was banned and Gene was quickly discovered to be absurd when previously it was meh.
7. Genesect - Nothing but fires and very specific mons with fire coverage beat this mon by the end of its lifespan. Luckily fire types are very good pocketmonsters but it was still incredibly restrictive.
8. Togekiss - I think people forget this mon was banned LOL it only ended up being for like two weeks and the end of a ssnl but jesus christ this mon is stupid. Scarf and Maranaga are already incredibly well-rounded sets w somewhat limited counterplay in their own right only really struggling with electrics, ices, and some steels. Resist berries and Kee make this counterplay even more limited but I think fortunately in 2022 people don't really want to abuse it. It could've beaten a Glastrier and Zap in this most recent PL but ppl misplayed+got unlucky so X). This mon was absolutely broken before DLC 2 asw but I don't think it's near the level of absurdity of mons above it.
9. ZygardeC - ZygC ended up having pretty limited counterplay outside of ice types and some dragons (that had to worry about Haban.) While I personally think it still had a lot to contest w (stall mons and subseeders) that weren't really fucked w I think those thoughts of mine were put on hold when SubTox entered the tier. SubTox made exploiting its piss weak stab much more diffucult. It turned otherwise winning MUs like Bulu and SubTox Entei into either expressly losing or 50/50s reliant. SubTox ofc did open it up to dragons and fairies as you weren't running WP/Haban but this mon was def not healthy. Relying on setguessing or an ice type is very obnoxious in a meta that already has 5 bajillion threats.
10. Primarina - I think this mon deserves a slot for being consistently top 3 throughout the generation and was the best several times. In both Home and DLC1 Prim had a large amount of the meta revolve around it with Resist berries, WP, Sitrus CM, Specs, AV, etc. making it able to beat much of the meta at once. DLC2 set Prim back especially with the introduction of actual competetion in Fini but Prim would once again squirm into the top tier of the meta. Custap is really strong on it and Water/Fairy is a more valuable typing than ever.

necrozma sux. pult fini sylv darmg were consistently top/high tier pokemon but usually settled around top 5-15 which isn't particularly noteworthy.
edit: Jirachi would be either above or right below Lax if it was nommed imo
 
I myself haven't really been too consistently active or around for too long. I joined at just around the time before Victini got banned, and shockingly wasn't too good or involved in actually being competitive during that time. While I still might not be good, I have gotten a bit more competitively focused. Anyways, onto the list.
1. Mew - Wasn't here when it was unbanned, but based off of the horror stories and just what it has access too, I see that it was busted.
2. Sableye - My god I'm so unique! See above posts for explanation.
3. Togekiss - While I myself don't think it's broken or even great, that's not what titan means. Titan to me is just something that has carved it's own place in the meta, and I feel that Togekiss has definitely done it. What would be a less than stellar mon in essentially any other format performs above average in 1v1. It is a titan in my eyes not due to it's power, but due to how it takes this format and creates it's own role in developing it. Far from broken, but it has certainly impacted how people play 1v1.
4. Cinderace - Again, was never able to see this used and could be underselling it. After all, I do remember someone telling me that someone topped ladder with purely Cinderace. What I haven't heard however is that it defined the meta. It was just broken mon that got banned. Moving on.now
5. Jirachi - While not nommed, definitely should have had a spot. Most of what I said about Togekiss applies here, except for the busted set that some god forsaken person made so I couldn't run cosmic power / power up punch / stored power / something else power related. Anyways, it was definitely a powerful set and it was banned real quick after that. However, I put it lower than Togekiss be because it just felt like it didn't have as much of an impact as Togekiss has had. No idea why, just gut feeling.
6. Ehh no clue as to the rest of the list, they all feel kinda similarly ranked for me. The other 5 would probably be Fini, DarmG, Lax, Sylveon, and Gene. And clearly, the 11th would be Escavalier. It's just such a good mon and needs a new set damnit I need to do that.
 
With a unanimous vote, the first Titan of 1v1 is Mew!

Voting for the second Titan will end on August 20th, at about 3am -4. Just as a reminder, the following nominees are still available:
:primarina::mimikyu::genesect::togekiss::sableye::sylveon::tapu fini::zygarde-complete::cinderace::necrozma::victini::dragapult::snorlax::darmanitan-galar:

Forgot to do this last round, but my vote goes to Sableye.
 
Voting Cinderace
:ss/cinderace:
Cinderace @ Life Orb
Ability: Libero
EVs: 152 HP / 212 Atk / 40 Def / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gunk Shot
- Bulk Up
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt

This set was enough to carry me to 1600 ELO on the ladder at the time as a mono-mon team
 
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