Project Top 10 Titans of the Generation 8 DOU Meta

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Paraplegic

relax...
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credits to the ou version of this thread for the formatting and most of the wording of this
:ss/Rillaboom: [imagine that art is right here] :ss/Urshifu:
If I had to describe generation 8 in one word, "turbulent" is the first thing that comes to mind. Having gone through 5 or so entirely different metagames over the course of the gen, many mons have been viable since sword and shield dropped, often getting replaced as even better things were released via home and later the dlcs. We also banned a generational mechanic for the first time ever quite early on in the process, which defined literally everything going forward and shook up the viability of many mons in and of itself. All of this means this is probably the most interesting iteration of this thread we've ever gotten to do and so I'm terribly excited to ask, what were the top 10 most influential mons in Sword and Shield Doubles Overused over the course of the entire generation?

From June 30th to July 16th you will nominate Pokemon that will be voted on for the top 10 most influential Pokemon throughout Gen 8. After that, you 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. Please keep in mind that we're not ranking Pokemon based on how good they are, but we're ranking Pokemon based on how influential they've been. When nominating Pokemon, consider their influence not just in the current Crown Tundra format, but in the Isle of Armor, Post-Dynamax, Home, and Pre-Home metagames as well (if they were there, of course)!

Please use the format below to frame your posts or we won't count them!

Enter your nominee's sprite here.
:ss/pokemon:

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. Be sure to consider their impact in previous iterations of SS DOU as well if they weren't removed.

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 DOU?

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


:ss/Weezing-Galar:


What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

(God) Weezing did something no other pokemon could do, force your opponent to play honestly. It was extremely relevant for several earlier iterations of the ss dou metagame for its ability to prevent other pokemon from having abilities and because it enabled a slower paced bulkier style of play that was otherwise tended to be choked out by the break neck paced, offense dominated metas it found itself used in.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Weezing-g was used as a bulky utility mon, setting and also absorbing tspikes, shutting off ability usage, and checking a number of highly relevant and dangerous mons with its unique typing.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mostly neutralizing gas, but also its amazing defensive typing and a way of exerting pressure one couldn't just ignore by way of tspikes. It provided a really nice list of traits no other mon could provide and it was what slower, bulkier paced teams needed to keep up with offense at the time.

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

You didn't, it beat you.

please don't make joke nominations. they will be deleted. if somebody else is woke enough to actually nominate weezing-g though feel free to!



You're allowed to reserve nominations, but make sure to finish them in 24 hours, or they will be back up for grabs! Also, you can only reserve one nomination at a time. This is to make sure that your reservation gets done before you finish another. If you pick a Pokemon that has more than one form, be sure to clarify which it is.
 

zoe

Tragic Decision
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DOU & Discord Head
:ss/kartana:

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Kartana acted not only as a terrifying offensive threat with its extremely high Attack, snowballing potential, and 50% chance to crit with Leaf Blade, but also as a cornerstone of offensive teams prevalent right after DPL 7 due to its fast Tailwind allowing attackers like Heatran and Zygarde to become significantly more threatening. The offensive teams anchored by Kartana and its tendency to bust past its checks with the flip of a coin warped the meta around the team style and Kartana itself to the degree where even when Kartana's usage was at an all time low, the effects of its presence in the metagame were still as clear as day.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Kartana was the offensive Tailwind setter at its peak due to its naturally high Attack and high Speed and was commonly seen fulfilling that role, even outside of the aforementioned offensive teams. It also infamously used Scope Lens as its item, allowing it to have a 50% chance to not only have the power of a Choice Banded attack, but also ignore Intimidate, which was a somewhat common method of checking Kartana. Both of those effects made it possible for Kartana to break through a majority of its checks, making it riskier to answer than most Pokemon.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Its aforementioned high Attack, snowballing potential, and 50% chance to crit all in conjunction with each other made Kartana difficult to handle on its own, with many checks having the potential to be invalidated if the Kartana user was lucky enough. However a big reason Kartana was deemed problematic were the hyper offensive teams it anchored. Its high Speed allowed it to make great use of the speed mechanic changes in Generation 8 with Tailwind, which in turn, made the plethora of strong attackers usually paired with Kartana like Zygarde and Urshifu-R significantly more oppressive, as to outspeed them now, you would likely also have to outspeed Kartana or be paired with a Tailwind setter faster than Kartana.

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


For Kartana itself the best way to check it was by using a Pokemon that could not only threaten it back, but also either outspeed Kartana, such as Dragapult, or take multiple hits from it, such as Celesteela. However the former options could easily fold to a Kartana under Tailwind, while the latter options weren't as common and could potentially be hard to fit. For the HO teams Kartana was used on, the counterplay was somewhat similar. You could either out offense those teams with faster Tailwind users, or have the tools to weather the assault from those teams. For the former option, it was key to threaten the offensive core of Kartana, Zygarde, and Urshifu-R, as those three usually made up the core of their teams' offensive pressure. Pokemon like Latias and Naganadel were used to fulfill this role, as not only did they posses a faster Tailwind than Kartana, they had the potential to OHKO all three members of the core as well. Other Pokemon like Iron Defense Kommo-o and Dragapult could also perform similarly, although they lacked the speed control needed to reliably handle the core's extreme offensive pressure. The other option was to pack a team with such a strong defensive presence that the HO teams Kartana anchored couldn't break them. Those teams were good at doing that and didn't require the speed advantage to do their job. However, with both of those strategies being geared toward the standard Kartana HO, they were bound to struggle against other teams, creating a dynamic of either bringing a team that's designed to beat the Kartana HO and risking losing to other HO teams (such as setup spam with Shift Gear Genesect), or bringing a team that loses to Kartana HO but is solid vs most others. In the end, Kartana was found to the root cause of this matchup fishy metagame, and was banned.
 
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Meminger21

Lágrimas Ocultas
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:ss/Landorus:

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?


For the biggest part of SS Landorus was a pretty mediocre pokemon, but with the ban of Kartana, Landorus saw itself as one of the fastest pokemon in the metagame. Landorus solified itself on SCL jumping from a mere 1 use on week 1 to being the 4th most used pokemon on that SCL edition. It was a really powerful pokemon that could KO key pokemon such as Volcanion, Diancie and Urshifu-R, for this reason some pokemon saw a big rise on its usage, such as Celesteela and Naganadel while items like Shuca berry and Choice Scarf started being used more, like on Volcanion and Urshifu-R.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Landorus main role is to be an offensive pokemon that can threaten a lot of the metagame. It's usually the Ground-type of the team, in contrast with Zygarde that although was very powerful couldn't KO as many key mons as Landorus, and it can fit in many archetypes being able to trade positively. Landorus can also threaten semiroom structures by KOing Diancie and Volcanion and Offense ones with the help of speed control.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

After the Kartana ban, Landorus's speed tier became something very valuable, being able to outspeed most of the metagame while being opted instead of Zygarde as the Ground-type for its ability to KO many key pokemon and being more powerful because of its ability Sheer Force combined with Life Orb and an almost perfect coverage of Ground + Poison for the tier.

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

Landorus can be checked in many ways, defensively you can run immunities/resists to Ground, such as Celesteela, Cresselia, Rillaboom and Landorus itself, or naturally bulk pokemon, such as Porygon2, Amoonguss and Kyurem-B. Resist Berries, Shuca berry in Landorus's example, are pretty common too, having Metagross and Volcanion as the most common users. Landorus can also be dealt with offensively, pokemon such as Dragapult, Naganadel and Nihilego can outspeed it and OHKO Landorus. One of the best ways to deal with Landorus though is by having some sort of speed control, Scarf mons, like Fini and Urshifu-R got more popular after the Kartana ban and setting your own Tailwind or Trick Room can also help dealing with Landorus. Alternatively, Fake Out users, Redirection and Priority can also minimize Landorus potencial.
 
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Z Strats

Banned deucer.
:ss/charizard:
Charizard

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

The biggest effect Charizard had on the metagame was its presence on the "cringe sun" teams that were super dominant during the Isle of Armour meta. The presence of Charizard and this team had a lot of people struggling to find options that could beat the powerful and fast attacker that forced a lot more fire resists and a lot more speed control.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

During pre-home Charizard was a powerful dynamax abuser with two really strong dynamax options in airstream and gmax wildfire making it a force to be reckoned with. During Isle of Armour it continued being a powerful attacker being the perfect breaker/late game sweeper on sun teams that terrorized the meta for quite some time with its modest choice scarf set (some opted for timid for a bit when scarf Urshifu started being used).

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Pre-Home it had the perfect toolset to be a dangerous dynamax abuser, Airstream is considered the best max move giving both Charizard and it's partner +1 speed and wildfire was super good at chunking down teams with residual damage making teams always have to be wary of it. In Isle of Armour Charizards solar powered attacks made it the perfect abuser of sun. Heat wave was a really strong spread move that was perfect for chunking teams or even getting OHKOs on opposing offensive threats like Urshifu, and Overheat was an insanely powerful nuke that could let u focus down almost anything for the kill. While Charizard was usually content just spamming powerful fire moves it also had the coverage to get surprise ohkos on notable fire resists like using dragon pulse to ohko Dragapult, Kommo-o and Kingdra. Pair this with the fact that Tsareena as a partner let it run a choice scarf without fear of being faked out and it was no surprise that Charizard had as strong of an impact as it did.

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

One of the best ways to deal with Charizard was just getting the speed control advantage on it, it's still a pretty frail mon and if it's not moving first it is gonna have some difficulties. A lot of people also just started running a lot more fire checks and made sure to preserve them well and not get caught off guard by Charizards coverage option in order to deal with it, dragon types like Dragapult were super popular especially in a tier with no Fini and sand was another very popular pick with Tyranitar and Gigalith being able to do well vs Charizard.
 
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:ss/indeedee-f:

I'm sure you're tired of reading the walls of text in every other nom.
As a favor to you, the reader, I'll keep this brief cuz we all know what indd does already.


****This is one of the only mons relevant throughout the entirety of SS****

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

1. Set up psychic terrain for strong partner
2. Redirect attacks away from strong partner

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Early SS: with Hatterene
Late SS: with Necrozma

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Strong terrain ability and ability to support strong spread attackers.

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

Rillaboom.

This mon carried me to a seasonal win.
Winner's bracket finals
Winner's bracket reset
Semifinals
 
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Spurrific

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:ss/melmetal:

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Melmetal was an incredibly centralizing Pokemon towards the end of pre-DLC SS and its usage increased over the course of DPL 6; after the first half of the regular season it had the most usage every week for the remainder of the tournament, ultimately reaching 100% usage rate among all 6 SS teams that were brought in finals. As it was not only incredibly strong and hard to break, it was able to take hits from many different fast and frail Pokemon and KO back, allowing it to dismantle hyper offense with ease. However, it was such a versatile Pokemon due to the universal strength of a strong, bulky Steel type along with near-perfect coverage moves that it was played with many different archetypes besides balance and bulky offense, such as sand or rain. As a result of this centralization many teams had to use very niche options to deal with Melmetal, such as Overheat Incineroar, and a lot of teams' win conditions started to be skewed towards special attackers due to Melmetal's high Defense.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Assault Vest Melmetal was used as an early or mid game breaker that could 1v1 almost any Pokemon, including some very comical ones like Scarf Charizard in Sun. On top of its ridiculous signature move Double Iron Bash, this set had countless coverage options such as Thunder Punch, Ice Punch (both of which were boosted by Iron Fist), Superpower, Body Press, High Horsepower, and Earthquake. If you played it well you would always come out with a Mon advantage that you could then use as leverage for the rest of the game. Additionally, it could be used as a powerful win condition Pokemon by running Acid Armor, Body Press, and Leftovers. While this set isn't as versatile, if you didn't have a special attacker with enough steam left to take it out you would get walled out of the game by it.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Melmetal just had way more stats than every other Pokemon in the metagame at the time. As many stated in its suspect thread, there was not any inherently unfair aspect to Melmetal; it was just a significantly stronger, bulkier, and versatile Pokemon. While Double Iron Bash has a 51% chance to flinch a Pokemon, this was largely not relevant because of how slow Melmetal was.

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

Since Melmetal was able to 1v1 any Pokemon in a vacuum, you always needed to deal by either using multiple Pokemon or sets that allowed you to gain an advantage on it while it wasn't on the field. The easiest way to accomplish this for both of those options were the use of setup attackers. Rotom-Wash was probably the best one that could do this because it quad-resisted Steel and could not be hit for super effective damage from any of Melmetal's coverage moves. Other Pokemon such as Nasty Plot Togekiss that could fish for crit Heat Waves or Swords Dance Excadrill could also get the edge on Melmetal if they were able to set up while it was off the field or through the use of Fake Out or Follow Me support. Ultimately these strategies were not enough to deem Melmetal balanced and it was banned shortly before the release of Isle of Armor, as there was still no reason to not include it on your team regardless of the team's playstyle.
 
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Paraplegic

relax...
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:ss/necrozma:

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Necrozma was the main offensive psychic type for most of the generation. Between its great bulk, set up options, and good enough coverage pool, it was always something to keep in mind during all the metas it was present in because it always found a way to be a hyper threatening presence.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Necrozma filled a couple different roles over the course of the generation. Upon release with pokemon home when dmax was still legal, necrozma primarily found usage as a dmax mon, often paired next to something like fling zera while it held weakness policy, so that it could threaten to snowball games if the matchup was right. Upon dmax's removal from the meta, it moved (mostly) away from its cheesey origins, and tr, cm, and stealth rock sets saw usage in the following dpl during melm meta. This was admittedly its lowest point though. Once melm was banned and ioa released, it was a slow burn for necro until ss-shifu and volc were banned, but once the hazard meta kicked off in snake, necrozma rose with a vengeance and went on to become the imo best pokemon in that meta with its cm set. Once crown tundra released, it was again a slow burn for necro until the (re)discovery of the meteor beam set, which propelled it and psyspam to the forefront of the meta for a while and now maintains it a healthy place within the tier still currently.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Prior to the crown tundra, mostly its very significant bst especially in the bulk and spa stats, which allowed it to effectively trade very well at worst with a lot of pokemon. After crown tundra when its bst was less notable, it being probably the most threatening psychic type in terrain and one of the main reasons we care so much about a psyspam matchup are what have kept its impact felt.

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

Once again depends on the era. In home meta, it usually attempted to snowball games immediately so counter dmaxing with an appropriate mon was usually the correct response. In its low point of melm meta, the titular mon was usually enough to prevent it from doing too much. In ioa you attempted to beat it down as quick as possible or you toxic'd it, And in crown tundra you come prepared with a robust plan against psyspam lol.
 
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GenOne

DOU main. GMT-7. PS!: GenOne
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Urshifu Single-Strike

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

During the Isle of Armour metagame, Urshifu Single-Strike was the keystone to hyper offensive teams that highly punished and discouraged more defensive playstyles. Its combination of high Attack stat, nearly unresisted STAB Dark/Fighting coverage, ability to bypass Protect, and ability to ignore Intimidate with Wicked Blow's critical hits made it a potent powerhouse and wallbreaker with very little defensive counterplay. It was ultimately banned for being too effective at its role.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Urshifu Single-Strike most often used Choice Band to maximize its offensive potential as a breaker, but sometimes it also ran Life Orb (to allow for move changes and Protect) or Choice Scarf (to sacrifice raw power to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame).

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Urshifu Single-Strike and Urshifu Rapid-Strike both came out at the same time and did similar things, but Urshifu Single-Strike's Dark/Fighting typing was much more difficult to switch into and couldn't be redirected as effectively by Amoonguss and Blastoise - two mons that can easily take Urshifu Rapid-Strike's Surging Strikes attack. Urshifu Single-Strike's Dark/Fighting typing was also notably more resistant versues popular terrain-boosted attacks like Grassy Glide and Expanding Force -- both attacks that Urshifu Rapid-Strike is weak to. All-in-all, because Urshifu Single-Strike was so effective at its role, it essentially warped the majority of the metagame into a hyper-offensive state where the best play was just to hit faster and harder than your opponent could by any means necessary. And finally worth noting - Urshifu Single-Strike hit its own mirror super-effectively, forcing a lot of 50/50 situations in games where both teams used the mon.

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

Like I wrote above -- hit hard and hit before your opponent. Hyper offense was the most popular playstyle during IOA for a reason.

E: There were also some niche Fairy-type options in Togekiss, who could safely redirect Urshifu SS's STABs (but is still weak to Urshi's coverage moves) and G-Weezing (which removed Urshifu's ability to break through Protect while also resisting both of Urshi's STABs). But still hyper offense was typically the best answer to hyper offense lol.
 
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Grandmas Cookin

is a Top Tiering Contributor
DPL Champion
:ss/togekiss:
togekiss

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

from the start of gen 8, Togekiss was incredibly versatile and was consistently good in whatever role it was given, game in game out. with many sets to choose from it was very easy to fit on teams, and with super luck was even able to muscle through its own checks with a bit of super luck. eventually, it fell off with the release of the crown tundra and now acts as a niche support option.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

follow me support, nasty plot sweeper, and critspam were all viable options. follow me typically ran tailwind once it got that from pokemon home, yawn to force switches during dynamax meta, or protect after dynamax was banned, and one of dazzling gleam, air slash, heat wave, flamethrower. nasty plot saw it use gleam air slash and protect or flamethrower/heat wave, whereas the critspam set dropped nasty plot for follow me to bring some team support to the table.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

early gen 8 togekiss was one of the best dynamax abusers for its high crit rate airstreams and great natural bulk that let it abuse weakness policy. post dynamax it was still a huge threat both offensively and defensively as its typing let it resist many common attackers and its movepool let it bully many teams. upon the release of the isle of armor togekiss was crucial in staving off many new toys in urshifu ss and rillaboom, as well as support the wildly broken volcarona among other pokemon.

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

zeraora in particular has been a consistent check as its good nature bulk let it take multiple dazzling gleams, and its speed let it act before togekiss could threaten it. other options included steel types like melmetal before its ban or excadrill and scizor, although they had to be wary of a potential fire move. togekiss also struggled to keep damage on weezing galar as its ability shut off super luck and made it crit less often, while threatening togekiss back with sludge bomb.
 
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:ss/mew:

Mew

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Mew has used much of its expansive movepool to be a consistent support option for teams throughout the entire generation. Mew was a consistent option for speed control after many Tailwind setters lost viability due to the lack of Mega Evolutions or just being removed from the game outright. It could allow bulky setup sweepers, such as Dragon Dance Zygarde and Kyurem-Black, to sweep with its Fake Out + Pollen Puff support or simply use Tailwind and allow powerful threats, such as Heatran, Volcanion, Choice Band Zygarde and Urshifu, to throw out powerful attacks to break opposing teams.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Mew has largely been used in support roles, however 'demon' setup sets, offensive sets and 'Jail Mew' sets also saw usage at different times throughout SS DOU.

Mew's support movesets often carried speed control moves (primarily Tailwind but also Trick Room) throughout the generation. Entry hazards (Stealth Rock, Spikes and Toxic Spikes) have seen usage on Mew during different metagames, being particularly prominent during the Isle of Amour metagame. Utility moves such as Fake Out, Pollen Puff have remained popular across many different SS DOU metas. The combination of Snarl and Will-o-Wisp on Mew picked up during the Crown Tundra metagame to limit the damage output of opposing teams.

'Demon Mew' utilised Cosmic Power, Stored Power and Mew's impressive bulk to sweep unprepared teams. These sets saw less usage than the standard support sets but demanded respect in both the teambuilder and matches to ensure Mew wouldn't run away with games.

While Mew's offensive stats are a rather underwhelming 100 across the board it could sometimes forgo bulk investment and run moves such as Expanding Force and Meteor Beam to act as a fast threat on psyspam teams while also providing speed control if needed. In DWCOP 2020 Team Mediterranean used a number of offensive coverage moves on their Mew over support moves to snipe opposing threats, such as Heatran (Earth Power), Kartana (Flamethrower) and Zygarde/Landorus (Ice Beam). APAC These dubbed these variants as 'Coverage Mew.'

'Jail Mew' was a set used primarily earlier in the generation that employed the combination of Imprison and Transform to force an opposing pokemon to either switch out or Struggle to death. It was particularly dangerous in the endgame where the Mew user could effectively eliminate an opposing pokemon from the game.

Mew could also briefly use Gravity + Hypnosis when the combination became legal early in the generation before being quickly rebanned.

Ultimately support Mew sets remained the most dominant ones throughout the generation but Mew had numerous sets that could change the outcome of a game.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mew's versatility and utility have been unrivalled across the entirety of SS DOU, it was one of the few current threats to be available with its viable moves on day 1 of SS. Mew's ability to figuratively (and sometimes literally) transform itself into whatever a team needed allowed it to remain Tier 3 or higher in the SS Viability Rankings for the entire generation, a feat unmatched by any other pokemon (Dragapult dropped to Tier 4 for a period during the Crown Tundra and Shadow Tag eventually got banned). At its peak in the early Crown Tundra metagame it was considered a top 2 pokemon in the game by some players.

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

Mitigating Mew's support capabilities is the main way people would deal with it. Taunt would shut down the majority of Mew sets and force it to switch out. Tailwind Mew sets would often struggle against Trick Room teams depending on Mew's other moves. Faster Tailwind setters could take advantage of Mew's decent base 100 speed and set Tailwind before it to allow their partner to attack either Mew or Mew's partner freely. Toxic could put Mew on a timer, although players had to be wary of Synchronise when doing so. Strong super effective moves also limit Mew's time on the field, however Mew's excellent bulk would allow it to survive all but the strongest moves.
 
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Nails

Double Threat
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:urshifu: :ss/gothitelle: :melmetal:

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Gothitelle has been a mon that's been largely carried by its near-exclusive ability Shadow Tag for most of its history in 6v6 doubles, and that trait has generally led to it being banned from OU every generation. While less toxic than in OU (trick scarf goes brr in singles), gen 8 Gothitelle got a nasty new toy for doubles: Fake Out. In previous gens the Goth user had to jump through a bunch of hoops to ensure that the partner mon didn't get blown up as it pivoted in, but the addition of Fake Out as well as the banning of Dynamax (and lack of Z Moves or Megas) provide Gothitelle's partner, and Goth itself, with a level of safety past generations of Shadow Tag teams could only dream of. Relatively fragile offensive teams now had access to Shadow Tag, while it was previously only viable on bulkier teams. This proved to be too much for DOU, and it was banned after the release Crown Tundra.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Gothitelle can be thought of as a force multiplier. It accomplishes little on its own, but if it is paired with a broken partner it allows that mon to snowball games it might otherwise be contained in. In the first few months of DOU, Goth Melmetal was an oppressive duo, with Goth catching out prey for Melmetal to bonk while protecting it from anything a partner could do. After Melmetal's ban, Goth found its best home of the gen on cringe sun, forming potent pairings with Charizard, Ninetales, and most notoriously Single Strike Urshifu.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?
What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

You ban its friends and then ban it anyways.

Gothitelle's supporting makes its best partners oppressive. Fake Out + Shadow Tag + Unseen Fist is simply unacceptable levels of offensive synergy, as it can force a ko with no response on an opponent in a majority of positions. Goth's synergy with Melmetal was similarly powerful, but it more often used Trick Room, instead of relying on Fake Out and Helping Hand to pass its time. It does not need to click moves for its presence to be felt, as its passive disabling of one of the game's core mechanics makes it a primary focus of any game that it participates in.

Gothitelle does not have counters in the traditional sense for multiple reasons. Aside from shed shell (a weak item which can be punished by simply winning damage trades against that mon), once you're in against a Gothitelle the only path is fighting it head on. When paired with an oppressive partner, this dynamic heavily disincentivizes using anything which loses to the brokemon. As an example from the Melmetal suspect thread:
If you take a look at the VR, pretty much every pokemon's viability is centered around their melmetal matchup. While I recognize that I could run kyurem, I do not, because it loses to melmetal. Everyone who does use kyurem loses, because it loses to melmetal. I make sure that most, if not all, of my mons have something they can do against melmetal--be it fake out, a specs fire move, a boosted fighting move, and so on.

While I do not run any hard counters to melmetal, that is because I can't, unless I run monofire. (note, Charizard heat wave in sun still does not ohko melmetal). I choose every pokemon on my teams keeping in mind melmetal's existence, and melmetal weak teams get dismantled.
Goth's influence can be seen all over this section of Ezrael's post. Using Pokemon which struggled to deal with Melmetal was a liability that Gothitelle ruthlessly punished.

Gothitelle was quickbanned at the start of Crown Tundra,
Shadow tag needs to be the first suspect test after the 3 phases.

You can not accurately judge the strength of any mon right now because shadow tag powers up everything and anything next to it to extreme heights. It’s too good of a support. Fake out, ally switch, heal pulse and shadow tag on one mon is ridiculous.
and retested 7 months later after the metagame had been allowed to settle. The results of the test were conclusive: 86% voted to keep oth Banged.
 
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Grandmas Cookin

is a Top Tiering Contributor
DPL Champion
:ss/zeraora:
zeraora

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

upon the release of pokemon home, zeraora became the primary electric type of the tier. taking on the many flying types threatening max airstream with its plasma fists. it also enabled many setup pokemon through its support movepool in fake out taunt and snarl. after the Dynamax ban, it took on a more offensive role with av and knock off and was one of the few consistent charizard and dragapult checks through its blistering speed. during isle of armor, electroweb and snarl were occasionally seen together to cause disruption, slowing the ever-threatening volcarona setup, while also being a solid enabler of its sweep, as well as occasionally seeing it support other sweepers through coaching and taunt. during crown tundra, the coaching set saw its usage hit an all-time high to enable kyurem-black among others. otherwise, it saw its av set return sometimes retaining snarl to act as a deterrent to the threatening psyspam cores, as well as blaze kick or close combat curing kartana meta.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

throughout gen 8 zeraora has used its offensive sets as a strong damage source, or its more support-orientated sets to enable partners. both were very consistent and offered lots of utility through fake out knock off or taunt regardless of the matchup there was always something zera could do thanks to its incredible speed stat.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

being the fastest unboosted pokemon in the tier until crow tuntra meant zeraora was moving first and threatened massive damage on many common pokemon with one of plasma fists close combat or knock off, the latter also removing items for utility other than fake out even on offensive sets. it also had incredible utility for an offensive pokemon which gave it an element of surprise when playing into it.

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

as is with all pokemon zeraora can only use at most 4 moves. its support sets were often limited to just plasma fists to do damage after turn 1 making ground types consistent checks or counters. additionally, its attack stat is less than desirable so it often struggled to take ohkos and sometimes even 2hkos on bulkier pokemon or resists, especially so in current meta.
 
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Noelle

Trying my best
is a Community Contributor
:xy/diancie:
Diancie


What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?
Diancie has been one of if not the best users of trick room since it's introduction. A bug with the move diamond storm allowed it to get +4 defense in one turn. This, for obvious reasons, made it very difficult to remove, and also gave it great synergy with the item weakness policy, increasing it's damage output which would normally be mediocre, to insane levels. Diancie was tier 1 along with kyurem black, and many players wanted it banned before diamond storm mechanics were changed to what we know them as today. Even without the bug, diancie has remained a staple on trick room teams for its ability to compress a trick room setter and attacker into one slot as well as its synergy with pokemon like volcanion and rillaboom, and is currently tier 2 on the viability rankings.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?
Diancie has been a potent trick room setter and attacker since it's introduction to the Doubles OU metagame. Diancie has great synergy with strong fire and ground types that can remove the steel types such as volcanion, landorus, and more niche options like torkoal. Because of this, diancie has remained a staple on semiroom since it’s introduction to the metagame and enables semiroom core known as DVR, shorthand for Diancie Volcanion Rillaboom, variations of which have existed for 2+ years now

What caused it to have a significant impact?
The diamond storm bug took an already great pokemon and made it borderline game breaking and undeniably meta defining. Even today, there’s no other pokemon that can effectively and consistently function as both a trick room setter and attacker to the level of prowess that diancie displays other than arguably stakataka, which has its own problems such as a significantly worse defensive typing which makes it even less consistent as a standalone setter, as well as the number of teams it fits on being much more limited compared to diancie. Diancie’s checks are also easily removed by common trick room pokemon such as volcanion, torkoal, necrozma, and porygon2, making it fairly easy to justify using it on teams

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?
While diancie is and has always been a great pokemon, it's not without flaws. Its typing, while not an awful one by any means, is exploitable by pokemon such as landorus and urshifu which outspeed and ohko, and in urshifu’s case nullify protect. Diancie also struggles with steel types which diancie can’t hit for much damage back without body press, which isn’t very threatening if diancie fails to get a boost. This makes it a less consistent way of setting trick room than pokemon like porygon2 or even necrozma, which are harder to remove thanks to their better defensive typings and eviolite and prism armor respectively. It also has item slot syndrome, as it can’t hold both weakness policy and safety goggles, both of which it wants to bolster its damage output and prevent it from being stopped in its tracks by amoonguss respectively. Though it is worth noting that this doesnt work entirely to its detriment, as it forces players to respect the possibility of weakness policy even if its not actually holding one. Diancie can also struggle with opposing trick room pokemon like stakataka, which is known for its great matchup into semiroom builds. It’s damage output is also fairly mediocre when not boosted by weakness policy or hard stone, so knock off and chipping it into range of a super effective attack as to not activate weakness policy are also common ways to deal with it.
 
:ss/kyurem-black:
What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Kyurem-B was quickbanned when it was initially made available in SS. Once the Crown Tundra DLC was released, the Pokemon now added led to a power creep that brought Kyurem-B down to a manageable level and thus was unbanned. Still, Kyurem-B's offensive and defensive stats made it a force worthy of Tier 1 on the Viability Rankings. Kyurem could now learn Dragon Dance and Icicle Spear (finally giving it a decent physical Ice-type move) this generation so players had to figure out ways to prevent it from sweeping through teams.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Kyurem-B had two common sets: Assault Vest tank and Dragon Dance sweeper. The Assault Vest set boosted Kyurem-B's Special bulk to take STAB super effective moves like Draco Meteor and Meteor Beam. This set would generally run both physical and special moves, most commonly running Ice Beam, Fusion Bolt, and Earth Power to hit most of the metagame for super effective damage as well as Icy Wind to provide speed control. The Dragon Dance set allowed Kyurem-Black to boost its Attack and Speed, making it one of the most threatening setup sweepers in the metagame.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Kyurem-B's high BST and versatility made it a Pokemon that could fit on most teams. Its different sets have differences in how it can be checked, so opponents would often be cautious playing around the possibilities. Many of the Pokemon that could deal the most damage to Kyurem-B were also threated by Kyurem-B itself, making it very important to have the speed advantage when dealing with it. Fake Out users like Incineroar and Zeraora and redirectors like Amoonguss and Blastoise were good partners that could enable Kyurem-B to set up.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in DOU?
Kyurem-B has rather poor defensive typing. Faster Dragon-type like Naganadel and Dragapult threatened Kyurem-B with Draco Meteor, while Urshifu-R and Zapdos-G also outsped Kyurem-B and threatened with STAB Close Combat. Diancie and Metagross were both slower than Kyurem-B, but both could take its attacks quite well and retaliate with super effective moves. Incineroar was particularly good at weakening Kyurem-B's damage output with Intimidate and Parting Shot.
 
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Yoda2798

Not the user you are looking for
is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributor
Doubles Leader
:ss/rillaboom:
Rillaboom

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Below are tours with replays threads in the DOU forum, including some not part of circuit, with Grassy Surge legal and in chronological order.
#2 - 41% Snake 4
#2 - 39% DWCoP 1
#1 - 50% Invitationals 2020
#1 - 64% LTPL 3
#1 - 54% DPL 7
#1 - 55% DLT 2021
#1 - 64% BLT 8
#1 - 69% OSDT 1
#1 - 58% Spring Seasonals 2021
#1 - 48% SCL 1
#1 - 58% / 46% Majors 1 (Pools and Top 32)
#1 - 49% DWCoP 2
#1 - 31% Fall Seasonals 2021 - tied first, low sample size as only Top 8
#5 - 30% Invitationals 2021 - arguably lower than it "should" be due to people reusing teams which happened not to have it, rather than there being a particular reason not to use it
#1 - 50% DPL 8
#1 - 45% DLT 2022

Rillaboom has been the face of the tier for most of the generation. Since it gained Grassy Surge + Grassy Glide, Rillaboom has been the #1 most used Pokemon in almost every tour, as seen above. This generation started November 2019, and June 2020 was when The Isle of Armor was released and Rillaboom got its full kit (being DUU with almost no tours usage in DOU up until that point), so its dominated for >2/3 of the gen, and if Rillaboom had its full toolset at the initial release then it surely would have been just as dominant back then too. So why exactly does Rillaboom deserve to add another #1 to its list?

Rillaboom is the team player which every team wants, and is the best monkey for the job. As everybody knows, Fake Out is an incredibly useful and versatile move in doubles, and Rillaboom being able to reliably use it multiple times per match can easily find its way onto teams as a result. Semiroom teams appreciate the support while setting Trick Room, setup Pokemon also enjoy free turns, and offensive teams welcome a Fake Out + U-turn user to help maintain momentum. Meanwhile, bulkier Pokemon benefit from the passive healing provided by Grassy Terrain, with even Tapu Fini appreciating the new terrain Rillaboom brings. Grassy Glide being priority, along with Fake Out, means Rillaboom is particularly agnostic to its team's speed control situation: it doesn't matter whether you have Trick Room, Tailwind, or neither, Rillaboom will perform well all the same. On the other hand, Rillaboom asks little in return from its teammates, with few obstacles able to truly stop it from doing its job. The only Pokemon which really don't work well with Rillaboom is Psyspam, as both terrains interfere significantly with what the other wants to do. Many suspected / banned Pokemon were often found with a Rillaboom at their side, but that's just the same as with every other Pokemon rather than being evidence of it being a problem. Rillaboom is the best Fake Out user, best pivot, best terrain setter, and best priority user; it's the universal support Pokemon.

The largest effect Rillaboom had is on the most influential Pokemon of last gen: Tapu Fini. Fini lamented the loss of 50% berries, but with the nerf to terrain's offensive boosts was still very much poised to reign supreme on its return. There was just one problem: Rillaboom. Tapu Fini this gen is a far cry from how good it was last gen, and from how it would be this gen too if Rillaboom didn't exist. If it didn't then we'd be seeing Misty Terrain everywhere, but it's predominantly Grassy Terrain instead, due to Fini being a free switch for Rillaboom, and its effectiveness being neutered (especially that of Calm Mind as a win condition) as a result. The ramifications of this go far beyond just Fini though, due to how terrain wars affect other Pokemon's viability too. Psychic and Electric Terrain (Tapu Lele / Indeedee-F and Tapu Koko respectively) are also directly hurt by Rillaboom's presence, particularly in Electric Terrain's case. In a world where Rillaboom didn't exist and Tapu Fini surged in usage instead, the two other terrains still fare much better into it and would improve as a result.

Rillaboom's effect is even greater when you consider how the ramifications of Misty Terrain's greatly diminished presence changes the viability of other Pokemon as a result. Status is much more usable again, most notably Toxic, but Amoonguss also has a much easier time using Spore too relative to last gen. Mew's Will-o-wisp / Snarl set would be much worse without Rillaboom's presence. Dragon-types rejoice that their STABs are no longer consistently halved, with Rillaboom doubling as a handy counter to the most common Fairy-types as well. The reason why Naganadel is so much better this gen, and why Dragapult is still as usable as it is post Fini, is because of Rillaboom existing to stop Misty Terrain. Similar to Tapu Fini's influence last generation, the complete effects of Rillaboom from terrain are rather understated on first glance, as Grassy Terrain is so prominent you don't actively think about it since you assume its already there, and more to the point, you don't think about the absent effects of Misty Terrain, which would become all the more noticeable again if Rillaboom disappeared.

Rillaboom also affected other Pokemon's viability outside the realm of terrain. Zygarde went from having a practically unresisted STAB last gen to having a major resist and counter in the most common Pokemon this gen, and part of why Landorus has picked up in popularity over it is due to having Sludge Bomb to hit Rillaboom with. Grassy Glide existing as a form of strong priority is a gamechanger for certain Pokemon, Kingdra and rain are now worse than last gen, and typically carry Tsareena or a Psychic Surge user to stop it as a result. Nihilego, gifted a powerful new toy in Meteor Beam, and rid of its worst nemeses in Mega Metagross and Kartana, should have risen up in viability this gen. Instead, Rillaboom's Grassy Glide holds it back, as it also does with other physically vulnerable attackers such as Spectrier, limiting their viability by ignoring the high Speeds they rely on. Already mediocre Water-types in Suicune, Gastrodon, and Milotic have also had any last drop of viability squeezed out of them by Rillaboom's addition, as Pokemon which offer such a free opportunity for Rillaboom to come in and take control of the battle require a great reason to justify using.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Rillaboom was nearly always used as a bulky pivot holding Assault Vest using Fake Out / Grassy Glide / U-turn / filler move, with filler usually being Wood Hammer, Knock Off, High Horsepower, or Superpower (mostly while Kartana while was around) and being chosen depending on the team and meta. EV spreads were flexible between bulk, Attack, and Speed, ranging everywhere from no Speed to absolute max, to help guarantee a faster Fake Out in the mirror. Choice Band also seen limited use, based around the power of Grassy Glide as a strong priority move rather than focusing on utility, but was very niche in comparison.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Due to the utility provided by Fake Out + U-turn + Grassy Surge (+ Grassy Glide), practically every team can benefit from Rillaboom's addition. With a kit not dissimilar to that of Incineroar, it's not surprising how consistently effective and ubiquitous Rillaboom has been throughout the generation. The combination of all those traits are obviously important to Rillaboom's viability, but a more unsung component is its longevity. Firstly, Rillaboom is incredibly difficult to OHKO, with Assault Vest and max HP surviving even (Timid) Naganadel's Sludge Bomb, meaning Rillaboom is practically guaranteed to be able to do something before it goes down, even in the worst cases. Against less threatening foes, its own tools further benefit it in this regard; Grassy Terrain's passive healing can turn 2HKOs into 3HKOs, with Fake Out helping provide even more rounds of healing to the mix. Unlike Incineroar, it also doesn't suffer from a weakness to Stealth Rock, making it less susceptible to hazards while pivoting, although admittedly rocks are relatively infrequent compared to last gen so this point isn't as impactful. Another perk to Rillaboom's longevity is Grassy Glide: this lets it still be useful at low HP, even in situations where it cannot use Fake Out to do so.

As for why it was so impactful, the reason is unsurprisingly its unique aspect: Grassy Surge (along with Grassy Glide). As we found out last gen, terrain setters play a large role in shaping the metagame due to their lingering effects, and that continued to be true, particularly with the addition of the new terrain boosted moves. Rillaboom was an easy standout from the new terrain setters, but even in the face of the old Island Guardians being released, it continued to be not just the most popular terrain setter in the tier, but also the most popular Pokemon period. Terrain boosted Grassy Glide also boasts the perk of being a good, strong priority attack, something you rarely see due to how strong it is. This further increases Rillaboom's versatility, letting it function independently of the team's or current board's speed control situation far more than any other Pokemon, and letting it soft check many Pokemon with Glide, regardless of their Speed.

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

Rillaboom's pure Grass-typing is a notable weakness, meaning offensively there are many Pokemon which resist its STAB attacks, and it cannot cover them all with its one filler slot. It also leaves Rillaboom with a plethora of weaknesses defensively, being vulnerable to Kyurem-B, Naganadel, and Fire-types among other common Pokemon, meaning teams should always have multiple ways of switching in and threatening it. In terms of Rillaboom's presence in the builder, it has more of an effect on the Pokemon you don't use than you do use, as any well-built team should naturally cover Grass-types sufficiently without much thought.

Despite that, Rillaboom can still reliably fulfil its job of setting terrain, using Fake Out, and pivoting out with U-turn, even against teams with checks available. Incineroar is a notable switch-in for maintaining momentum against Rillaboom, coming in safely with Intimidate then being able to Fake Out or Parting Shot (countering any U-turns) depending on the situation. The important part of dealing with Rillaboom effectively though is not simply checking it like an offensive threat, but limiting its utility as much as possible. Preventing Rillaboom's Fake Out with a faster Fake Out user (Mew, Zeraora, or your own Rillaboom) or being able to safely double Protect on it are typical examples of counterplay. In other words, countering Rillaboom is more about controlling board state and positioning than using specific Pokemon.

That said, terrain control (e.g. from Tapu Fini) is effective against Rillaboom; removing Grassy Glide's priority can help faster Pokemon like Urshifu-R, Landorus, and Nihilego, or slower Pokemon under Trick Room like Diancie, fare much better against it. Psychic Terrain (Tapu Lele and Indeedee-F) is a special mention for also blocking Fake Out to further limit Rillaboom, but as with other terrains it's important to note that Rillaboom resets terrain on entry, so keeping your terrain setter in the back to switch in after Rilla enters the field is necessary for complete effectiveness. Tsareena is the hard counter option, completely preventing Fake Out regardless of terrain, while blocking opposing (priority) Grassy Glide while having the option to use its own if desired; Tsareena while still relatively niche, has had a distinct rise in usage since last gen in response to Rillaboom.
 
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Z Strats

Banned deucer.
:ss/dragapult:
Dragapult

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Before the dynamax ban Dragapult was one of the biggest abusers of the broken dynamax mechanic using both dynamax and weakness policy to its advantage to become the biggest threat in dou at the time and arguably one of the biggest reasons dynamax was suspected. After the ban it still had a place in DOU as a mon people had to respect but at a much smaller scale as before, even now it still sees usage and forces people to have enough options to deal with a sneaky dragon dance pult on their team or risk getting swept.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

As mentioned before when Dragapult was at its peak its main role was being a dynamax abuser that rips apart and sometimes fully sweeps teams. There was also a small period of time where it was a support pokemon with beat up that let Terrakion sweep teams and was super good at that. Nowadays it's mostly used as a fast breaker with specs or a set up mon with dragon dance used to either sweep or break teams.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Dragapult had a really good typing and fast speed tier while being a strong enough attacker to become a huge threat. Ghost was a really good offensive typing in all metas and in the dynamax metas being ghost also allowed it to have fling proc weakness policy giving it any other boost it wanted on top of the +2 offenses allowing it to become on of the best mons instantly. Another thing Dragapult had going for it was its movepool was also very solid. In dynamax it was able to get max airstream boosts by using fly as a coverage move, when dynamax got banned it was still able to make use of its good coverage options by running a special set with flamethrower/fire blast and sometimes thunderbolt and hydro pump. With it's speed tier outspeeding the entirety of the unboosted metagame except for Zeraora, a great offensive typing with coverage options and good enough offensive stats Dragapult has been able to remain relevant throughout the entirety of SS.

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

As with most fast attackers getting the speed advantage on it through weather, tailwind or trick room helps a lot. Physically bulky mons like Tyranitar and Melmetal were good for dealing with it in the past and now in current meta mons that can take a hit pretty easily and hit it super effectively back like Tapu Fini, porygon2 and Diancie are all super affective at dealing with Dragapult.
 
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emma

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DPL Champion


What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike and Urshifu-Single-Strike were released on June 17th 2020 as part of the Isle of Armor DLC Expansion Pass. Urshifu-S was the default choice between the two because Dark / Fighting was a better typing both offensively and defensively than Water / Fighting. You can read more about Urshifu-S's impact on the metagame here.

When Urshifu-S was banned on August 14th 2020 (right before Smogon Snake Draft IV), Urshifu-R finally began to see usage. It saw 26 uses (26%, tied for 10th, 46% win rate) in the first major tournament after Urshifu-S's ban, but most of it was towards the beginning (17 uses in Weeks 1-4, 9 uses in Weeks 5-9 + Semifinals + Finals) and overall was nothing special in the DLC1 metagame. This can be attested to the fact that Rillaboom, Mew, Zeraora, Kommo-o, Necrozma, Dragapult, Tsareena, and Gothitelle either had the same or more usage and matched up well against Urshifu-R, but not as well into Urshifu-S, hence one being banned and the other being mostly mediocre.

Urshifu-R started off the Crown Tundra DLC Expansion Pass metagame even worse, seeing a pitiful 13 uses (7%, 22nd, 23% win rate) in Doubles World Cup of Pokemon I, while we saw Pokemon such as Calm Mind Cresselia dominate. 2020 Invitationals was slightly better - 10 uses (14%, 14th, 60% win rate) - but nothing you'd expect from a Top 10 Titan of the Generation. Things go a bit better in Lower Tier Premier League III at 14 uses (24%, 7th, 50% win rate), but it wasn't until Doubles Premier League 7, specifically the Finals, where Urshifu-R finally broke into the scene.

Urshifu-R saw a combined 20 uses (29%, 3rd, 50% win rate) in the tournament - but most importantly it found itself on one of the most broken teams of the DLC2 metagame - Z Strats Hyper Offense that won in DPL7 Finals. People finally began to realize that Urshifu-R's 130 Atk with the ability to ignore Intimidate and Defense Boosts as well as attack through Protect was an extremely powerful offensive weapon, and when paired with Pokemon such as Kartana and Zygarde, it was a dominant force. Slightly after the conclusion of DLT 2021 Playoffs - where Urshifu-R once again dominated with 29 uses (38%, #3, 52% win rate), it received a suspect test because Urshfiu-R was at the center of a playstyle that completely dominated the metagame.

Despite receiving 54% ban votes, Urshifu-R stayed in the metagame and continued being a dominant force. It saw 29 uses (39%, 2nd, 55% win rate) in the Official Smogon Doubles Tournament I and once again helped caused another suspect two months later - although this time Kartana - because the Hyper Offense structure was still too overbearing.

After Kartana's ban, Urshifu-R was still a very strong Pokemon but overall a healthy presence in the metagame. In Smogon Champions League I it saw 31 uses (32%, 5th, 45% win rate), in Doubles World Cup of Pokemon II it saw 59 uses (30%, #6, 51% win rate), in 2021 Invitationals it saw 20 uses (29%, #6, 45% win rate), and in Doubles Premier League VIII it saw 21 uses (28%, #3, 57% win rate).

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet / Ice Punch
- Protect / U-Turn

It typically runs a Life Orb set with its signature move Surging Strikes (that lets it ignore both Intimidate and Defense boosts), Close Combat, Aqua Jet for priority (sometimes Ice Punch), and Protect. Earlier in the Generation, it mainly used Choice Band with U-Turn and Ice Punch with its STABs. Choice Band is now usually relegated to Rain teams while Choice Scarf has also seen some usage throughout the generation.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Urshifu-R is a strong physical attackers that bypasses typical ways to neutralize physical attackers. Breaking Protect and ignoring Intimidate / Defense boosts are extremely powerful tools that make Urshifu-R one of the most dangerous attackers in the metagame.

At the peak of its power it saw a lot of usage with Kartana, Zygarde, Rillaboom, and Heatran while today Nagandel, Landorus-I, Rillaboom and Heatran are the most common partners; I'm sure you see a common theme here. Other offensive threats that covered Urshifu-R's blind spots and set a fast Tailwind made Urshifu-R even more powerful.

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

Defensive answers are mostly limited to Amoonguss and Tapu Fini - two Pokemon that resist both of its STAB attacks. You mainly have to answer Urshifu-R offensively through the likes of Rillaboom's Grassy Glide, Landorus-I, Nagandel, Mew, Necrozma, and Speed Control. Urshfiu-R's awkward Speed Tier, Specially Defensive Frailty, and weakness to Grass are typically the three best ways to beat it.
 
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GenOne

DOU main. GMT-7. PS!: GenOne
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:ss/amoonguss:

Amoonguss

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Amoonguss became available when the Isle of Armour expansion was introduced to the SS DOU metagame and has since functioned as one of the metagame's best move redirectors and defensive support Pokemon.

Its high overall bulk, ability to recover HP on switch-out with Regenerator, and situationally good defensive Poison/Grass typing allows Amoonguss to consistently redirect or switch into several useful attacks -- most notably being able to offer an otherwise unavailable defensive counterplay to both of Urshifu Rapid-Strike's STAB attacks. Amoonguss's Rage Powder support can create safe turns for a myriad of partners, ranging from setup sweepers like Dragon Dance Kyurem-Black and Zygarde to Trick Room setters like Porygon2 and Diancie.

Unlike other competing redirectors like Blastoise and Togekiss, Amoonguss can also actively threaten opposing Pokemon on its own with Spore - the only move in the game that can put Pokemon to sleep with 100% accuracy. To boot - Amoonguss's rock-bottom Speed stat allows it to utilize Spore as an effective Trick Room counter/deterrant which speedy offense teams like psyspam in particular appreciate.

And finally, the Gen 8 meta also blessed Amoonguss with a new and wonderful powdery support move in Pollen Puff, which allows Amoonguss to provide 50% HP recovery to its partners - even in the face of Taunt.

Amoonguss's versatility means that it is very rarely deadweight on its team and can play mind games with its opponent, who has to juggle between the congruent threats of redirection, sleep induction and team healing. People will run Safety Goggles, an otherwise near-useless item, to increase their counterplay against one of DOU's most effective defensive/supportive titans: Amoonguss.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Amoonguss generally runs a defensively-oriented EV spread and nature, augmented further by Sitrus Berry and the Regenerator ability, to maximize its longevity on its field. It pretty much always runs Rage Powder and Spore, and can either opt for further utility in Pollen Puff (team healing) and Clear Smog (set-up spam counterplay) or situationally useful offensive attacks in Sludge Bomb and Energy Ball which can offer reasonable damage chunking against select opponents like Rillaboom and Urshifu respectively. Protect is also an option but Amoonguss often has too much 4MSS (4-moveslot-syndrom) to be able to fit the move against competing moveslots.

I sort of already describe Amoonguss's role in my intro, but it basically alternates between being a damage shield for partners, a Sleep-inducer for vulnerable targets, and a cleric for partners. And although Amoonguss doesn't typically invest in offensive stats, it can situationally threaten chunk damage on targets it can hit super-effectively.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

It's simply one of the best redirectors and overall defensive supports in the metagame and it commands respect both in the teambuilder and battlefield - insomuch that people bring Safety Goggles users to counterplay it.

Indeedee-F is probably the closest thing Amoonguss has to competition, but tbh the two don't really compete as they are different enough to both be run on the same psyspam team.

Other competing redirectors like Blastoise and Togekiss exist, but have far less viability and flexibility overall.

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

Despite all of Amoonguss's positive attributes, it actually has a fair amount of counterplay that is easy enough to include on your general competitive team.

First of all, Rillaboom's immunity to Amoonguss's powder-based moves means it can mostly do its job of spamming Fake Out and strong Grass-type attacks without interference. Amoonguss can threaten some super-effective damage to Rillaboom with Sludge Bomb, Pollen Puff or Clear Smog, but your typical run-of-the-mill Rillaboom runs Assualt Vest and isn't overly threatened.

Moving on to the actual checks and counters of Amoonguss: strong Fire-types like Heatran and Incineroar, as well as Psychic-types like Necrozma and Tapu Lele, can impose super-effective hits strong enough to brute-force Amoonguss off the battlefield. Strong spread moves in particular like Heatran's Eruption and Necrozma's Expanding Force are a massive threat because they threaten both Amoonguss and its partner.

Safety Goggles can be run strategically on Pokemon that wish to bypass Amoonguss's Rage Powder and Spores, but it comes at the opportunity cost of running a "better" item. However, Safety Goggles is especially effective as a surprise counterplay option since it is hard to scout for in advance of Amoonguss's powder moves failing to affect the target.

Late night edit: also forgot to mention, Taunt users such as Zeraora can nullify most of what Amoonguss wants to do on the battlefield, although it can still attack or Pollen Puff partners post-Taunt

And finally it is worth noting that Tapu Fini still exists as a viable Pokemon that can set Misty Terrain and negate Spore's effect.
 
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emma

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:ss/incineroar:

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Incineroar was released when Pokemon Home became compatible with Pokemon Sword and Shield for Week 7 of Smogon Premier League XI (DLC 0) in early 2020, sending poor Arcanine into the Phantom Zone and reprising its role as one of the best pivots in the tier from SM Doubles OU. Arcanine went from seeing roughly 50% usage in Weeks 1-6 to just one in the rest of the season while Incineroar took its rightful place at the face of the metagame, regularly getting around 65% usage once it was released. It saw the following usage and win rate in the following major tournaments:

Doubles Premier League VI (DLC 0) saw Incineroar as the 2nd most common Pokemon (50% usage, 40% win rate).
Smogon Snake Draft IV (DLC 1) saw Incineroar as the most common Pokemon (60% usage, 45% win rate).
Doubles World Cup of Pokemon I (first tournament of the DLC 2 metagame) saw Incineroar as the most common Pokemon (54% usage, 48% win rate).
2020 Doubles Invitational saw Incineroar as the 4th most common Pokemon (39% usage, 48% win rate).
Doubles Premier League VII saw Incineroar as the 17th most common Pokemon (16% usage, 55% win rate).
Official Smogon Doubles Tournament I (Top 16) saw Incineroar as the 9th most common Pokemon (24% usage, 50% win rate).
Smogon Champions League I saw Incineroar as the 2nd most common Pokemon (39% usage, 55% win rate).
Doubles World Cup of Pokemon II saw Incineroar as the 3rd most common Pokemon (42% usage, 52% win rate).
2021 Doubles Invitational saw Incineroar as the 2nd most common Pokemon (31% usage, 50% win rate).
Doubles Premier League VII saw Incineroar as the 2nd most common Pokemon (34% usage, 48% win rate).

While it saw some dips in usage as metagame trends were unfavorable to it (i.e. Kartana meta during OSDT I) and faced competition from other Fire-types, Incineroar almost always stayed at the top of the usage stats throughout the generation.

Throughout the generation, Incineroar served as a solid check to Rillaboom (the most defining Pokemon of the generation), Kyurem-B (specifically Dragon Dance), Amoonguss (especially with Safety Goggles), Metagross, Mew (Incineroar was overall the best check to the wide variety of sets Mew could run), Porygon2 (Urshifu-R, Knock Off and Toxic were its best/only checks at points), Dragapult and Spectrier (as one of the two Ghost resists), Genesect (although not Shift Gear!), and sometimes even Zygarde (as the premier Intimidate option).

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

Incineroar typically ran Fake Out, Flare Blitz, Knock Off, and Parting Shot with U-Turn and Taunt seeing fringe usage. Its most common items were Sitrus Berry, Heavy-Duty Boots, and Safety Goggles with Assault Vest seeing fringe usage. EV Spreads ranged from surviving Volcanion Steam Eruption, taking two Choice Band Zygarde Thousand Arrows after Intimidate, OHKOing Dragapult with Knock Off, and outspeeding Landorus in Tailwind.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Incineroar was one of the most highly used Pokemon throughout the entire generation thanks to an excellent ability (Intimidate), access to valuable utility moves (Fake Out, Parting Shot, Knock Off), and solid stats / typing making it an excellent pivot that fit on a wide variety of archetypes. Set-up threats and strong attackers (Dragon Dance Kyurem-B, Calm Mind Tapu Fini, Urshifu-R, Landorus) all appreciate its ability to generate free turns and safe switch-ins.

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

Incineroar struggles against a few common Pokemon such as Diancie, Landorus, Tapu Fini, Urshifu-R, Volcanion, and Zygarde. Slower arcehtypes with Incineroar as the defensive backbone could often be overwhelmed by Hyper Offense structures. Stealth Rocks chips it by a quarter on every switch-in, and overall it could often be asked to do too much and be overextended, especially with its inability to fit Protect.
 
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Yoda2798

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:ss/tapu-fini:
Tapu Fini

What effect did Pokemon have on the metagame?

Undoubtedly a step down from last generation, Tapu Fini was still again an influential Pokemon this gen, being one of the best terrain setters, which combined with its typing made it a cornerstone piece of balance teams. Misty Terrain may not have been the dominant terrain this time around, but its effects are the same as ever, you just need to think about using it correctly rather than simply assuming its up all the time like before. Weakening Draco Meteors into Kyurem-Black so it can retaliate, stopping status moves like Toxic and Spore into Porygon2, Tapu Fini provides important utility to the teams its used on, teams which would struggle to work otherwise if it did not exist. Urshifu-R, for example, is a difficult Pokemon to switch into, and Fini being one of the few which can do so well enables more defensive options against it. Tapu Fini is an irreplacable part of those structures, and while it might not always be the flashiest Pokemon, it still forms a defensive backbone those teams rely on.

Part of why Rillaboom is as amazing as it is is due to Tapu Fini existing. If there was no terrain wars, there'd be less use in having Grassy Terrain, as despite the healing being nifty and priority Grassy Glide being cool, its most valuable aspect is removing the stronger effects of other terrains such as Misty Terrain. Without Tapu Fini, you could freely use Draco Meteor or Toxic or Will-o-wisp or Spore without thinking "I need some terrain control to guarantee this'll be effective". But because it exists, you can't use those moves as freely as you'd like, and so that encourages slapping on a Rillaboom to help ensure those moves will be useful even if you do run into a Tapu Fini team, where you'd be less inclined to do so otherwise. On a related note, Tapu Fini is one of the bulky Pokemon Toxic is used to beat, being far from the only reason to use it but an important one all the same.

In what main roles was Pokemon used?

At first, Tapu Fini replicated its best set from last gen, Calm Mind, with Leftovers replacing the 50% berries. As time progressed, and people realised it was much worse as a win condition than last gen purely due to Rillaboom existing, Choice Specs and Choice Scarf sets rose in usage, offering more immediate value. Both sets let it take on a more offensive role, while still providing the same utility from terrain and taking advantage of its bulk and defensive typing to be pretty survivable for an attacker. With Choice Scarf, Tapu Fini outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame, being slower than only faster scarfers or Jolly +1 Kyurem-Black, while boasting the ability to come in on Rillaboom and avoid it bypassing its Speed with Grassy Glide. Choice Specs, the more common of the two, offers surprising value offensively, due to a STAB combination which few Pokemon resist both of, and Ice Beam covering those that don't outside of Volcanion. Support sets seen extremely limited use, offering moves like Heal Pulse and Taunt, but other Tapu Fini sets were far more effective.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

What made Tapu Fini so good this gen was the same things which made it good last gen, primarily its typing and ability. Its typing has only three weaknesses but has a number of excellent resistances making it useful defensively, such as most notably this gen against Urshifu-R. Combined with Fini's natural bulk this made it a natural fit for balance builds, where its unique utility was best utilised.

As everybody knows the most notably part of its utility though is setting Misty Terrain. This removes the effects of other terrain, blocks status effects, and weakens Dragon-type moves, making it pretty impactful. Misty Terrain was also the only terrain which didn't receive a nerf this gen, though it did receive a crappy terrain move in Misty Explosion compared to the others which are all pretty good to say the least.

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

This generation added a natural counter to Tapu Fini in Rillaboom. With it finding its way onto half of teams this greatly improved their ability to deal with Fini, as it could comfortably switch in and take its attacks, remove terrain, and threaten a terrain boosted Grassy Glide / Wood Hammer. As a result, teams found it much easier to deal with Tapu Fini than last generation.

Other Grass-types also do well into Tapu Fini, such as Tsareena doing a similar thing to Rillaboom, coming in safely with Assault Vest, threatening a Power Whip, and also having U-turn to take advantage of a switch, but without the benefit of changing terrain. Amoonguss easily takes anything Tapu Fini can throw at it outside of a Choice Specs Ice Beam, and can redirect those attacks away from a partner such as Dragon Dance Kyurem-Black too. Amoonguss could also use Clear Smog to neutralise Calm Mind sets or just Sludge Bomb to threaten it, and has a much easier time finding teammates to change terrain so it can use Spore compared to last gen. Ferrothorn is perhaps the hardest Pokemon for Tapu Fini to deal with, as it resists both STABs and is only neutral to Ice Beam, on top of being incredibly bulky anyways. After an incredibly free switch-in, Ferrothorn could then use Power Whip to threaten or start setting up if using Iron Defense.

Electric-types, while not as good defensively, are another great check to Tapu Fini. Zeraora threatens a super effective Plasma Fists, and can catch out uninvested Tapu Finis in Tailwind which don't have hit the necessary benchmark to outspeed it. Zapdos is the other common Electric-type, able to take advantage of Fini with Volt Switch, Tailwind, or a powerful attack depending on the set.

Ironically, Dragon-types are not as negative a matchup against Tapu Fini as you may think, with Naganadel and Kyurem-Black both typically carrying moves which hit it. Naganadel is only neutral to Moonblast due to its Poison typing, while being able to OHKO Fini with a Life Orb boosted Sludge Bomb. Kyurem-Black, despite being weak to Fairy, could muscle through with its gargantuan stats, with an unboosted Moonblast being only a 3HKO against Assault Vest variants, and it having Fusion Bolt or Freeze Dry in its moveset. Dragon Dance variants could even stop it from getting a Moonblast off in the first place, with +1 Fusion Bolt being a roll in its favour against standard Calm Mind Fini.

A number of other Pokemon also carry coverage moves which cover Fini, such as Sludge Bomb on Landorus or Thunderbolt on stuff like Porygon2, Dragapult, and Genesect. Nihilego's high Special Defense mitigates its weakness to Water, while it has a STAB Sludge Bomb in its arsenal too. Strong neutral attacks can also wear Tapu Fini down, such as Expanding Force in Psychic Terrain or Steel Roller from Metagross. Toxic is the last option worth mentioning, which enabled by the likes of a Rillaboom switch-in can catch Fini and put it on a timer, preventing any sort of Calm Mind dreams.
 

Paraplegic

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Nom phase is officially closed. Please now feel free to now post your personal rankings and discuss why you think things should be ranked in certain places! This'll be allowed for a week until next Sunday, at which point we will begin voting phase.
 
Thought there would be more posts on this by now. I'll share my thoughts briefly, since even people who aren't fans of Gen 8 DOU can have strong opinions on its mons. For me, the primary difficulty comes in ranking mons that were judged too OP and got banned vs others that were judged slightly less OP, and didn't get banned. Generally, I would probably rank the latter higher than the former, since being banned limits how much you can affect the Meta, even though the former were stronger overall. Anyway, here goes:

#1 :rillaboom: Rillaboom
This mon dominated and defined the Meta for most of Gen 8. The grinding repetition of FO, GG and U-turn slowed down the game and limited lots of playstyles. Rilla caused terrain wars to go in a profoundly different direction than they had in Gen 7.
#2 :urshifu: Urshifu-R
Ursh R's protect breaking attacks, which even featured good priority stab coverage, were a major menace throughout the gen and forced opposing teams to come up with workable counterplay on every team.
#3 :kyurem-black: Kyurem-B
Featuring notable buffs from gen 7, Kyub was a great mon throughout the generation. People even talked about banning him for a while, but he survived.
#4 :landorus: Landorus
This mon, which was nothing amazing in Gen 7, became the most feared mon for a while, and took over for his bro Lando T due to specific circumstances of the gen (including the everpresent Rilla effectively nerfing EQ).
#5 :kartana: Kartana
OK, this was ultimately banned, but it was viable for most of the generation and was very scary and splashable. It was just fine with grassy terrain everywhere and no more pesky HP fires.
#6 :dragapult: Dragapult
This mon wasn't OP really, but was consistently heavily used and could fulfill various different roles well due to fantastic speed and typing.
#7 :indeedee-f: Indeedee-F
The primary enabler of psyspam, she has been a very interesting mon and a great team support.
#8 :melmetal: Melmetal
This guy was so powerful! He was banned quickly, but he made almost every team better while he was around.
#9 :urshifu: Urshifu-S
This guy got banned, but was around for a while longer. While he was around he ruled the roost. Was judged to be more troublesome than his bro, though I would have kicked both to the curb.
#10 :gothitelle: Gothitelle
Too OP with the addition of FO to her trapping repertoire. A generation dealing with Rillaboom spam didn't need another FO user, but she helped make the Meta a little less fun and playable while she was around.

Honorable mentions to Amoongus, Diancie, and Zeraora who were better in this generation, though I would say not as "influential" as the other mons listed. Incin and Fini were solid mons too, of course, but not nearly as good or Meta defining as they were in Gen 7 DOU.

(Those are my quick takes--may do some edits on the descriptions, but the order seems about right to me)
 
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