Hello.
nv and I have discussed some things, and this is the conclusion to them:
Regarding Dugtrio
Dugtrio has been banned. Its already high base 120 Speed is already threatening in standard play alongside its ability to trap grounded foes with Arena Trap; however, when Dugtrio is introduced to a metagame where it hits off of its highest calculated stat, already has a trapping ability, and now has an even higher base Attack than before with the ability to further bolster it with Choice Scarf, it is a massive threat. Just using Choice Scarf is like giving Dugtrio a pseudo Quiver Dance; however, when it gets +1 Earthquakes off of a Choice-locked base 120 "Attack" stat, it is able to take out almost anything. Dugtrio also had the ability to use coverage options in Sludge Wave, Shadow Claw, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Sucker Punch, and more to hit almost any Pokemon for neutral coverage. Dugtrio was able to switch into Tapu Koko and Electrode that were locked into Electric-type STAB moves to render them useless and KO them. On top of that, the only way to deal with Dugtrio was by using extremely physically bulky Pokemon like Ferrothorn, priority like Water Shuriken from Accelgor and Greninja and Ice Shard from Cloyster. Even then, if the priority user wasn't running a Choice Scarf or had a Choice Scarf but didn't outspeed Dugtrio, or its access to a Speed boost wasn't triggered yet (Accelgor), Dugtrio could still outprioritize them with Sucker Punch to again render them useless. Tagging
The Immortal to update the ladder.
We are sorry that there was not very much community input in this decision and are willing to revisit this option later; Dugtrio was intended to be banned before the ladder was put up, but nv ended up not being able to post in time. We know that there are other threats that are ban- or suspect-worthy, potentially even more so than this, but there is only so much that we can do at one time. We will eventually get to everything that raises concerns in this metagame to make it as balanced as possible. Speaking of which...
...Onto Araquanid
We are
suspect testing Araquanid. While it might not have very decent offensive stats in standard play, Araquanid is able to invest fully in bulk and not worry about its Speed, Attack, and Special Attack at all in this metagame. It can run an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD with a Calm nature, as well as a spread of 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD with a Calm nature, both having Assault Vest as an item, to have 170-Base Power Liquidations and an immunity to burns from Water Bubble to KO a plethora of even resistant foes. This in itself is already very threatening, but when you factor in strong Bug-type STAB moves in Leech Life and Lunge, other Water-type options in Scald, and even coverage moves like Poison Jab, Ice Beam, and Crunch, all coming off a fully invested Assault Vest-boosted base 132 Special Defense, Araquanid has nigh-unstoppable coverage in the meta. While it does lack priority, the sheer power that Araquanid has is reason enough to be heavily prepared for it on any of your teams. With the given EV spreads, even the strongest special moves like +2 (Assault Vest + one Beast Boost) Power Gem from Nihilego cannot easily deface it.
To vote for this test, you will need
1700 Glicko with 70% GXE or higher on a new alt that has "FP WB" in it to vote. The suspect will end in two weeks from today (March 15, 2017) at 11:59 PM EST. This should be a pretty easy suspect test to ladder for. There are people on the ladder that already have this, so don't worry. Types of acceptable alts:
OKAY:
"FP WB Kris"
"Kr FP WB is"
"Kris FP WB"
NOT OKAY:
"FP Kris WB"
"WB Kris FP"
"WB Kr F is P"
Happy laddering, and thank you all for voting this as the OMotM!
