How The New Guys Fare in OU

Introduction

Pokémon X and Y have been out since October, and since then, OU has experienced a whirlwind of changes. Many once centralizing Pokémon, such as Politoed and Ninetales, have had to suffer from the weather nerf, and old Pokémon that never stood a chance in OU, such as Mandibuzz and Charizard, now find a home there. With all these changes to old Pokémon, one almost forgets about the new ones. Although this generation gave us the fewest by number, some have made names for themselves, and are destined for greater things. In this article, we take a break from Mega Evolutions and look at the best of the best that Generation VI had to offer and see what makes them so good.

Greninja

Typing: Water/Dark
Stats: 72 / 95 / 67 / 103 / 71 / 122

What better Pokémon to start this article off with than a starter? At first glance, Greninja doesn't seem like much of a threat, but one has to look deeper into the ninja frog to realize his true strength lies within his hidden ability, Protean. With Protean, he changes his type to whatever move he uses, so essentially, every attack in his arsenal has STAB, making deceptively weak attacks, such as Hidden Power, into powerful weapons; for example, Hidden Power Fire is now the equivalent of using Flamethrower, so Ferrothorn and Scizor better think twice before switching in. But this can also mess with an opponent, as they might have brought in a Celebi hoping to hit your Greninja with Giga Drain, only for the frog to suddenly become a Fire-type, making Protean good not only offensively, but also defensively. Greninja also has an amazing base 122 Speed, which allows him to bypass fast threats such as Alakazam, Dugtrio, Starmie, Tornadus-T, Latios, and Latias, and nail all of them with the appropriate move. With attacks like Hydro Pump, Dark Pulse, U-turn, Ice Beam, and Hidden Power in his arsenal, he can create major headaches for the opponent. And if you thought Greninja was just an all-out attacker, think again. He has nifty support moves such as Taunt, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes (all usable on offensive sets, too, thus giving teammates like Ferrothorn and Deoxys-D more freedom with their move slots), and even has access to Mat Block, if you're interested in Doubles.

However, you'd be too quick on judgement to think that Greninja isn't flawed. His bulk is pretty bad, and while he gets STAB on everything, they can still lack some power. Also, the fact that you can change your typing can be a drawback; for example, let's say you attempt to take out the opponent's Dragonite with Ice Beam on the turn they switch into Scizor. When you would normally resist Bullet Punch, you now find yourself weak to it. There are a few Pokémon that can counter Greninja, such as Chansey and Blissey, as they can tank literally everything Greninja throws at them and they can heal off damage easily. Meanwhile, Greninja is at risk of being hit with Toxic, or even Thunder Wave, crippling him for the rest of the battle. Specially defensive Rotom-W can take anything, is 3HKOed at worst by Dark Pulse, and can Volt Switch out of there, which deals sizable damage in the process. Sylveon can easily tank some hits and retaliate with a Fairy-type move of choice. Azumarill can take anything and can either KO with Play Rough or set up with Belly Drum. Most tanks with an Assault Vest, such as Goodra, Tyranitar, and even Conkeldurr can come in and take a few hits, though in Conkeldurr's case, a somewhat rare Extrasensory still needs to be watched out for. For checks, near anything that outspeeds Greninja or uses priority can get the job done, such as Talonflame, Jolteon, (Mega) Lucario, and just about anything with a Choice Scarf. And due to how thin Greninja's bulk is, even resisted priority can be a pretty serious threat to him.

While Greninja does have his flaws, he has certainly solidified himself in the OU metagame, and should always be prepared for.

Talonflame

Typing: Fire/Flying
Stats: 78 / 81 / 71 / 74 / 69 / 126

Our next stop is the signature bird of the generation, so he's already got that going against him. Aside from Staraptor, the signature birds of each generation, namely Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, and Unfezant, never quite made a name for themselves in OU. Their stats are rather low for competitive standards, and Talonflame's not much different. Apart from a blazing base 126 Speed, his stats are pretty mediocre; he can't hit all that hard without a boost from a Choice Band or Swords Dance, and even then he can come up short for a KO against bulkier foes, and even if he resists an attack, it'll still deal serious damage; on top of recoil damage, this is no good. Speaking of passive damage, Stealth Rock exists, so Talonflame's lifespan is pretty short against a prepared and/or skilled trainer. So how does something like this possibly stand a chance in OU? The answer lies in his ability, Gale Wings, which adds priority to Flying-type moves. This essentially means that Talonflame has one of the strongest priority move in the game with Brave Bird, second only to Yveltal's Sucker Punch, making him one hell of a revenge killer. And while he doesn't have many options, he has all he needs from just spamming his STAB moves Brave Bird and Flare Blitz, as well as scouting with U-turn. But what Gale Wings gives him the opportunity to do is use an Adamant nature and become more flexible with EVs, giving him more bulk and power than one would think. But that's not all; Talonflame can also support a team with Will-O-Wisp and Tailwind, and improve longevity with Roost, the latter two of which are Gale Wings-prioritized. And he can even use a Bulk Up set to make himself a surprisingly sturdy attacker. You can't even use priority to get a hit in against him before you faint aside from Extremespeed and Fake Out, making Talonflame all the more effective at revenge killing.

However, Talonflame relies so heavily on his STAB moves that his checks/counters are rather numerous. For example, any Rock-type with reasonable Defense can easily wall Talonflame, and just one Rock-type move will send this flying fireball into a nosedive, though if there is a Pokémon on his opponent's team that clearly walls him, he'll almost always U-turn out of there. But if you lack any pebbles, Rotom-W is a very safe bet, tanking non-boosted STAB moves with no sweat and KOing back with STAB moves of his own; just don't get reckless with switches, as Rotom-W lacks recovery outside of Rest. Another counter is Heatran, as he's either immune to or resists any attack Talonflame can dish out, and can easily KO back with Ancient Power, or can hit him hard with near any attack. Even resisted hits like Flash Cannon and Fire Blast can put pressure on non-Roost sets, and having access to Stealth Rock is a major boon, though if Talonflame has Bulk Up and Roost, and Heatran lacks Ancient Power, then Heatran no longer counts as a counter. Anything with good Defense can wall him, including but not limited to: Hippowdon, Gliscor, Slowbro, and physically defensive Intimidate Gyarados. To check him is a bit difficult, due to priority Brave Bird, but there are some that can pull off the role. Aerodactyl is probably the best check, as it can outspeed him, take a +2 Brave Bird, and KO with a Rock-type move of choice. Other checks are Pokémon with Extreme Speed, as the move has higher priority than his Brave Bird. Good users of the move are Dragonite and (Mega) Lucario, but they risk getting hit hard by a STAB move of choice. Bear in mind that Talonflame has U-turn to damage and switch out on counters/checks, though, and won't hesitate to spam it if said counter/check is still alive. But the best approach is simply setting up Stealth Rock before Talonflame comes in. That way, he loses half his health upon switching in. He also despises getting paralyzed and hit by Toxic, though the latter is more effective because you're wearing down his health faster that way.

Talonflame does have a few things going against him, but if you're looking for the current best revenge killer, you needn't look any farther.

Aegislash

Typing: Steel/Ghost
Stats: 60 / 50 / 150 / 50 / 150 /60

Aegislash is one of the most unique Pokémon introduced to the competitive scene, and he certainly fits right into OU. His typing is great, only leaving him with Ground, Fire, Dark, and Ghost weaknesses, and even if he takes an attack of those types, his bulk can generally let him tank an unboosted hit or two. Although the nerf to Steel now makes him weak to the latter offensive types, he also uses Ghost, so doesn't have to worry about coverage as much now. Speaking of coverage, he doesn't have too much to offer, but with moves like Shadow Sneak, Iron Head, Sacred Sword, Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon, and a few others, he has enough to work with, and with Swords Dance in his arsenal, he can deal serious damage. Now you might be thinking, "This thing can deal serious damage? Pfft. His attack stats are even lower than Talonflame's!" Nope, that only applies for his Shield Form. When he selects an attacking move, his ability, Stance Change, changes him to his Blade Form, effectively swapping his 150 base defenses with his 50 base offenses, making him a glass cannon that shoots mini nukes. And NOW you're thinking, "Well that's cool, but now he's frailer than Lucario." Wrong again! A move that's unique to Aegislash is King's Shield, which works like Protect, but instead of blocking status, attackers that make contact will have their Attack stat cut in half. And just before he uses it, he changes back to Shield Form, thus giving him excellent bulk once again, and making approaching him a difficult task. So in the hands of a skilled trainer, Aegislash effectively has stats of 60/150/150/150/150/60, a BST of 720; what a horrifying concept!

And NOOOOW you may be thinking, "Golly gee willikers, Batman! How do we take this guy down!?" Due to the difficulty of approaching him due to Stance Change, Aegislash doesn't have many counters. The best counter you'll find is Mandibuzz, as she can take Shadow Sneak fairly easily and can endure Iron Head and Sacred Sword well enough, and just heal the damage off with Roost, while having Knock Off and Foul Play to hammer Aegislash with, and if Aegislash is at +2, even Shield Form won't avoid the 2HKO from the latter. The only two thing that Mandibuzz has to fear is a poorly timed Roost making her weak to Sacred Sword, and a very rare Head Smash. Checking Aegislash, however, is a much easier task. Most Ground-types that can take a hit are considered good checks. Hippowdon, Rhyperior, and physically defensive Unware Quagsire can threaten him, but have to watch out for Shadow Ball or Flash Cannon. While not as bulky, Diggersby is immune to Ghost, making Shadow Sneak useless and guarantees him landing a powerful Earthquake, but has to be wary of Air Balloon variants and Sacred Sword. Another notable check is Bisharp, as, despite being 4x weak to Sacred Sword, he can actually negate Aegislash's King's Shield Attack dropping effect due to Defiant, deal serious damage with a Dark-type move of choice, and resists Ghost- and Steel-type moves. One flaw with Aegislash, however, is that King's Shield doesn't block status. This makes him always susceptible to Will-O-Wisp, stripping him of his physical presence.

So despite all these flaws, it's easy to see why Aegislash is considered one of the most threatening Generation VI Pokémon as of now.

Goodra

Typing: Dragon
Stats: 90 / 100 / 70 / 110 / 150 / 80

Goodra is this generation's pseudo-legendary, meaning she has a lot to live up to. While most Dragons are fast and/or hard-hitting, Goodra takes a different approach and plays as a sort of tank. With 90 / 70 / 150 defenses, she can take hits very well, and with 100 / 110 offenses, she can hit fairly hard, even without stat-boosting moves. But stats are just the cover to this slimy book, as when looking at her movepool, wide is the first word that comes to mind. From physical attacks like Outrage, Power Whip, Earthquake, Aqua Tail, and Rock Slide, to special attacks like Dragon Pulse, Draco Meteor, Thunder(bolt), Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Fire Bast, Sludge Wave, Muddy Water, and Focus Blast, and support moves like Dragon Tail, Infestation, Body Slam, and Counter, it's very easy to put Goodra on almost any team. But Goodra sets herself apart from other tanks by having three very good abilities in Sap Sipper, which lets her eat up powder moves and Leech Seeds, Hydration, which greatly helps her bulk on a rain team, and a new unique ability called Gooey, which lowers the Speed of contact attackers. With all of these things going for her, she also finds herself as an amazing Pokémon to use Assault Vest on, further aiding hers role as a tank, which makes special attacks worthless to the point where Modest Mega Gardevoir's Pixilate Hyper Beam only deals up to 92.71% with Assault Vest on and 252/252+ investment; that's the most threatening super effective Special Attack Goodra will ever face in OU.

But Goodra would easily be Ubers if she didn't have her fair share of flaws. For one, while her Defense stat isn't too bad, it still leaves her susceptible to a plethora of powerful physical attacks, such as Close Combat, Earthquake, Icicle Crash, Outrage, Play Rough, and many more, so Pokémon like Garchomp, Aegislash, Weavile, and a plethora of other physically inclined Pokémon can easily keep her in check. Even if she threatens a physical attacker with Gooey, they can simply switch out and remove the Speed drop, or if someone uses priority, such as Talonflame or Aegislash, the Speed drop is of no consequence, especially if Defiant Bisharp is still alive. And while her coverage is excellent, you might find that foes not weak to an attack can take them better than you would have expected, especially if she's heavily invested in Defense. For counters, Chansey and Blissey can take special attacks all day and even physical hits to some extent and can either heal the damage off or bust out Toxic to whittle her health down and ruin her excellent tanking ability. Mandibuzz won't like Thunderbolts, but she can Knock Off her Assault Vest and put a lot of pressure on her with Toxic. Assault Vest Conkeldurr can spam Drain Punch while tanking any hit and healing himself in the process, but has to be careful if Goodra goes max Attack and has Outrage; what are the odds of that happening, though? With only 80 Base Speed (usually uninvested, mind you), she commonly find herself taking hits before she delivers them, even with a Gooey drop. And with no reliable recovery outside of a Hydration/Rest combo, she can never take an onslaught on the physical side for long, especially when passive damage from hazards, status, etc. exists.

Goodra isn't the perfect tanker, but she's still a pretty good one, and one you should always have an answer to.

Sylveon

Typing: Fairy
Stats: 95 / 65 / 65 / 110 / 130 / 60

As the first Fairy-type revealed, Sylveon was very hyped, but when she made her debut to the world, she felt a little lacking. But when Pokebank came out, Sylveon had all the tools she needed to become a very effective support-oriented tank. With support moves like Wish, Heal Bell, Baton Pass, Reflect, and Light Screen, and having 95 / 65 / 130 defenses, Sylveon can survive a battle for long periods of time. But unlike most clerics, Sylveon isn't complete Taunt bait, as she has base 110 Special Attack and Pixilate, which makes Hyper Voice a 117 Base Power Fairy type move, not to mention coverage in Shadow Ball and Psyshock. She even comes with Calm Mind if you want to give sweeping a try. But the key to all this success, and what makes her unique, is her Fairy typing, because despite having weaknesses to now common Poison- and Steel-type moves, her typing also gives her key resistances to Fighting-, Dark-, and Bug-type moves, and an ever lovely Dragon immunity to make life all the easier for her. Like most Eevee family members, she doesn't have much to offer, but she has just enough to stand out.

As cute as this little tyke is, you still have to beat her if you face her in battle, and there are methods to handling her. For one, physical Steel-types always have an edge against her, since they take little from her coverage bar Shadow Ball and a possible Hidden Power, so (Mega) Scizor, Bisharp, (Mega) Lucario, and just about anything with Iron Head come to mind. And from a more defensive point of view, specially defensive Heatran, Tyranitar, and Ferrothorn can take anything bar a Hidden Power, and respond with an appropriate attack. Taunt users can generally put a lot of pressure on her, such as Deoxys-S, Deoxys-D, Infernape, Gyarados, Skarmory, Gliscor, and a few others, as they take away her supporting role and can hit her hard. Her Defense is rather low, so she often struggles to take on physical attacks if she isn't invested in Defense. Even some resisted hits will push her into 2HKO range, so most physical attackers can inflict serious damage on her. Simply hitting her with Toxic doesn't work if she carries Heal Bell, so racking up field hazard damage is the best way to passively drain her health, and having Roar or Whirlwind really helps speed up the process.

All things considered, if you're willing to work with her flaws, her strengths will get you far in OU.

Honorable Mentions

Noivern

Noivern is a Pokémon that has a lot going for him, but more going against him. He sets himself apart from other Dragons as being the naturally fastest Dragon-type in the game. However, he lacks a lot of power to deal major damage without Choice Specs. He has access to good moves like Flamethrower, Hurricane, Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, U-turn, and Solar Beam, but has a Stealth Rock weakness and is weak to Ice Shard. He has nifty abilities in Frisk and Infiltrator, which makes him a good strategic player, but finds it difficult to break through sturdy special walls, like Blissey, Jellicent, Sylveon, and more. Noivern would have certainly been OU if he could hit a little harder or had a stat-boosting move like Nasty Plot, but in the end, Noivern was just a few cents short.

Diggersby

I know what you're thinking, but let's try to resist saying that, okay? Diggersby has access to Huge Power, which skyrockets his Attack to a monstrous 422 if you go Jolly. His Speed stat is pretty low, but he has Quick Attack to make up for it. He has a solid movepool with attacks like Earthquake, Return, Quick Attack, Wild Charge, and U-turn, along with boosting moves like Swords Dance and Agility to make him a true monster. But being weak to Aqua Jet, Mach Punch, Vacuum Wave, and Ice Shard really ruin a sweep, and 85/77/77 defenses can only let it take so many hits. And as previously mentioned, his Speed stat is pretty bad, so a lot of Pokémon tend to outspeed and KO him, and some can even burn and cripple him. Diggersby is a good Pokémon, but he just finds it hard to leave a mark on OU.

Heliolisk

Oh Heliolisk, why weren't you released in Gen V? You would have flourished back when weather was permanent. Heliolisk literally has three abilities that work with the weather, all of which would have been pretty good for him. It could've been used under virtually evey weather condition; in rain, he would run Dry Skin sets utilizing Thunder and Surf. In sun, he would use Solar Power sets that hit like a truck with Thunderbolt and Grass Knot. In sand, he could potentially use Substitute along with the miss chance from Sand Veil to deadly effect (even if the latter is only allowed in Ubers). But no, Heliolisk; you took your sweet time and came late, and what happens? Weather got nerfed, and so your niche as a flexible weather abuser got thrown out the window, left to die in the hail. Now you're just a harder-hitting Raichu with a weakness to Mach Punch and without Nasty Plot. Congrats.

Chesnaught

Chesnaught is another starter that has most of what he needs not only to work in the cruel OU metagame, but also to make himself unique in it. Unfortunately, he comes up a little short. He's great at tanking physical hits, not only because of recovery in Synthesis and Leech Seed, but also because of his signature move, Spiky Shield, which works exactly like Protect, but also damages direct attackers in the process. He even has access to Spikes, so he can be a good tanking Spiker. Another exclusive trait of his is Bulletproof, which guards against ball- and bomb-based moves, so he's immune to Sludge Bomb, Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, and a few others. All this, combined with a usable base 107 Attack, makes people wonder why he doesn't get more usage. The answer lies in his Grass/Fighting typing. Although it gives him 6 resistances, it also curses him with 6 weaknesses, including a 4x weakness to Flying, and most of his weaknesses are to common Fire-, Ice-, and Fairy-type moves. Another issue is a rather limited base 75 Special Defense stat, so special attackers tend to harass him often. He's also not going to enjoy burns and Toxic, which he has no real defense or countermeasures against. He's also pretty slow, and with all those weaknesses, an offensive set isn't a very good idea. And just to spit in our faces, Gamefreak wound up giving him Belly Drum... I think I hear Diggersby crying.

Conclusion

While this generation released the fewest Pokémon in quantity, there are plenty in terms of quality. And who knows, maybe there are other gems within X and Y that we have yet to unearth.

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