Where are you getting this info on Roost, Defog, Empoleon, Togekiss, and Gliscor? This is the first I’ve heard on any of that and I can’t find any sources on the matter.So with Pokemon Home on the horizon and a release finally expected as of Monday (presuming they don't psyche us out again), I figure now is a time to talk about some of the changes that will be coming to Generation 9 Free-For-All with Pokemon Home. First of all, the Free-For-All council has held a vote nad we have our initial banlist.
Home Banlist
Pokemon Bans:
Annihilape
Arceus (all formes)
Calyrex-Ice
Calyrex-Shadow
Chi-Yu
Dialga
Dialga-Origin
Flutter Mane
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Groudon
Iron Bundle
Koraidon
Kyogre
Landorus-Incarnate
Magearna
Mewtwo
Miraidon
Palafin
Palkia
Palkia-Origin
Rayquaza
Spectrier
Urshifu-Single-Strike
Zacian
Zacian-Crowned
Zamazenta
New Move Bans:
Last Respects
Unbans:
Houndstone
You can see the full voting record here
In accordance with Smogon's tiering policy, council votes require a super-majority to ban regular Pokemon, and to unban box cover legendaries that are Uber by default. This didn't actually have a big impact on the results, as almost all of the votes were a super-majority one way or the other. The only Pokemon that would have been banned with a majority vote but failed to pass the supermajority threshold is Hoopa-Unbound, which will we likely revote on after a few weeks to see how it plays out. We will also be paying close attention to many of the other Pokemon that did not receive a ban but are on our watch list, such as Regieleki and Ursaluna.
The Free-For-All council decided to unanimously follow OU's precedent and ban Last Respects. This means both formes of Basculegion and Houndstone will be legal in Free-For-All after Home drops.
But there are some big changes coming to Free-For-All, and we may as well start with the big dog, because the observant of you may have noticed something missing from the list of bans above.
Zamazenta-C
In a surprise turn of events, Zamazenta-C received a vote of 3 no ban, 1 abstain, and 1 ban, giving 75% supermajority for no-ban. We actually hadn't even discussed Zamazenta-C as part of the Home banlist. The council has discussed it several times before, including in Generation 8, as a potential candidate for unban. I put all the legendaries on the ballot just out of principle, and the votes were there to make the Shield Wolf legal in Generation 9 Free-For-All.
I'm excited to see how Zamazenta plays. With the nerf to its ability and its item slot locked up, it's very dependent on its high stats to perform. It relies on Wish partners or Rest to stay healthy, has limited options to set up, and is easily chipped down in a format where chip damage is a huge deal and racks up very fast. It also faces high competition from all the Steel-type alternatives. Lack of Leftovers is a huge problem for it. Overall, I expect this to be a fascinating addition to the metagame.
Landorus and Spectrier
For those that are unaware, Landorus-Incarnate and Spectrier were actually legal in Generation 8 Free-For-All. They were top threats, but they were held back due to their lack of reliable recovery and the sheer amount of bulk the metagame possessed to tank truly devastating hits. However, they were always on the cusp of being pushed over the edge. With Terastallization, Spectrier can deal with its lack of coverage options and break through would-be counters like Blissey or Umbreon. Meanwhile, Landorus now gets Nasty Plot and can use Terastallization to boost its Earth Power to reach truly insane levels of power. While these Pokemon were reasonable in Generation 8, with the buffs they received this generation we do not believe the meta can handle them anymore.
Ursaluna, Hoopa-Unbound, and Regieleki
These three avoided the ban-hammer and will be legal in Generation 9 Free-For-All, at least initially.
Hoopa-Unbound was the closest vote, with 3 ban to 2 no ban falling just a few percentage points short of a super-majority. This is a relatively slow format, so Hoopa's mediocre 80 base speed is not a serious concern for it. Its mixed offenses are practically impossible to wall, and due to how slow the metagame is it can outspeed most threats quite easily. Without knowing what set its running, you can't reliably switch anything in. Overall, the majority of the council is concerned that there just isn't good counterplay to this threat. We'll watch it carefully, but we will give it time before holding any re-vote.
Ursaluna was also a close vote, with a 2 ban to 3 no ban vote. Much like Hoopa-Unbound there is very little that can handle it, and it is incredibly bulky. With Rest for recovery and either Swords Dance or Sleep Talk this monster is an offensive powerhouse that is very difficult to remove. Overall, the sheer amount of power it brings to bear (no pun intended) leaves it without good answers. Unlike in a format like OU where its slow speed would hold it back, in this format speed is just not as important and its incredible bulk and ability to take chip damage is far more important. We'll pay close attention to this one and may hold a re-vote if it looks like it's too much.
Regieleki avoided the banhammer completely with a unanimous no ban vote, in spite of having been discussed as a potentially overpowered newcomer. There was some fear that with Tera Ice it could break through the Ground-types that had been flummoxing it previously. However, it's so fragile as to have severe consistency issues and is unlikely to be as strong in practice as it appears on paper. The biggest problem Regieleki had in Generation 8 was that if it clicked anything other than Volt Switch (or it got caught by someone switching to a Ground-type or using Protect) it had a very high risk of being KO'd. Terablast Ice is offensively terrifying, but Regieleki runs a mortal risk every time it tries to use it.
New Defoggers
With the confirmation that Defog and Roost are getting better distribution than originally believed, our options have opened up substantially. Currently Corviknight is the only hazard control capable of consistently keeping hazards off the field. Running anything else as your hazard control is inherently unreliable. However, we have a number of new options coming to us with the release of Home. This bodes very well for the health of the metagame.
Zapdos
Offensive teams can rejoice, Defog has been restored to Zapdos' movepool! Zapdos fits more offensive FFA teams much better than Corviknight, and it has the bulk and typing to stick around but Volt Switch to keep more momentum and provide offensive pressure. The only change to its game from Generation 8 will be the removal of Toxic (both from its movepool, and because the move is banned this generation). However, Zapdos has plenty of other great move choices, such as Discharge, Thunderbolt, and Light Screen.
Scizor
With Roost returned to its movepool, Scizor has the staying power to Defog throughout the match. While its defensive typing does leave it a little too weak to Fire, it should be a viable Defog option.
Dragonite
Especially with Heatran returning, defensive Dragonite will provide a much needed check to some very dangerous threats. With Defog back on its movepool, it offers the utility it needs to do the job. Heal Bell is gone, but it always had other options and will probably want to carry some versatile coverage to handle Heatran terastallizing.
Mew
While its movepool is still gutted, it does get Roost and Defog back which means it should be usable as a hazard remover. Overall I'm not sure how good it will be, but it should be a usable option.
Empoleon
With Roost and Scald in its movepool, Empoleon is looking to be a stellar addition to Generation 9 Free-For-All. Its typing and defenses are excellent, it's anything but passive, and it has the reliable recovery to stay on the field. It has a spammable STAB move with 111 SpA backing it, both Rocks and Defog, phasing, and reliable recovery. I see good things in this Pokemon's future. The fact that it looks like a viable pick even without running Defog bodes very well.
Buffed Pokemon
There are many Pokemon getting new moves to their movepools, and a few that are very impactful. Let's talk about a few of the standouts
Hippowdon
This A+ level threat in Generation 8 Free-For-All really fell from grace in SV. It faces steeper competition from more viable Ground-type competition (including newcomer Clodsire, and old favorite Gastrodon which is doing much better in the Generation 9 meta than it was in Generation 8) and it lost High Horsepower which made it a lot more passive. Well, Hippowdon is getting High Horsepower back! While it still faces higher competition, this should make it a harder hitting presence and a better fit on a wider variety of teams.
Charizard
With the addition of Roost, Charizard is once again worth consideration as a bulky attacker that can stay healthy throughout a match while putting on the pressure. It probably will only fit on Sun teams, an archetype that's only viable due to Walking Wake's power, but this should be enough to give this fan favorite some actual viability in the format.
Toxapex
It now gets Scald, finally giving it some offensive presence beyond Infestation. However, it still suffers from the banning of Toxic Spikes which has robbed it of one of its most important niches. It should be much more viable as a result of this, however.
The Newcomers
There are so many newcomers to go over, so let's just go through some highlights that have caught my eye as being interesting.
Arcanine-Hisui
Rock Head Head Smash and Flare Blitz with reliable recovery. This looks like a hard-hitter and I'm excited to use it. Its defensive typing is absolute trash, and you really want to use the terastallization offensively if at all. I'm not expecting it to be a metagame staple, but I'm excited to give it a try as it definitely has the tools to carve itself a niche in this format.
Gliscor
Poison Heal and Spikes, this thing is going to be an obnoxiously good hazard setter and just great at sticking on the field and keeping those Spikes up. Its natural defensive typing is well-suited to deal with all our Defogger candidates, with the sole exception of Dragonite with Ice Punch. And you can always just terastallize if Ground/Flying isn't what you need, this looks like the kind of Pokemon that can put defensive terastallization to amazing use.
Zapdos-Galar
One of our best wallbreakers from Generation 8 is returning. Thunderous Kick provides it a way to break through Dondozo, which cannot take the defense drops, and also allows it a Fighting STAB that doesn't drop its defense. As with last generation, its biggest problem is that offensive teams are going to want to run classic Kantonian Zapdos as their Defogger, which runs into species clause issues if you want to use this as your wallbreaker.
Slowking-Galar
One of our best regenerator pivots returns, and this time Toxapex isn't overshadowing it. Galarian Slowking has that nice balance of offensive presence and staying power that makes it useful on all kinds of teams, and with Toxic Spikes banned its ability to spread poison with Sludge Bomb is more valuable than ever.
Togekiss
With the addition of Moonblast to its movepool, this thing is finally able to flex its muscle as a Fairy-type powerhouse. Flinch haxing isn't quite as good in FFA where there are 3 opponents and flinching one of them doesn't necessarily help you, but a hard-hitting STAB like Moonblast definitely helps.
Heatran
A wickedly good stallbreaker, in a format that really appreciates good stallbreakers. With terastallization to get around its notorious Ground weakness, Heatran could become an incredibly strong contender in this new metagame. Its ability to just shut down enemies with Magma Storm plus Taunt is very difficult to handle, although it does rely on Wish passing for recovery.
Tornadus-Therian
It gets Regenerator and has good offense and bulk. While it has lost Defog so it can't fill that role, it should still have some viability as an offensive regenerator. We can already see this in our format with Amoonguss of all things having success with offensive sets. So I suspect Tornadus may have a good place in the metagame.
Thundurus-Therian
A great electric-type wallbreaker, but suffers due to lack of reliable recovery. It didn't really shine much in the last generation, but it definitely has the potential to make a showing this generation.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike
While Urshifu will appreciate that Toxapex is less prevalent in this meta, it still suffers the problem of being reliant on Choice Band to put in work and Close Combat as a Fighting-STAB which means it can take a lot of damage whenever it needs to use that. It remains to be seen how it will fare in this meta. The addition of Swords Dance is an interesting option, but Urshifu really benefits from immediate power of a Choice Band so I suspect that will remain its standard set in Free-For-All. However, Swords Dance will provide some alterantive.
Calyrex
With the reintroduction of Aromatherapy, Calyrex will have exclusive access to the role of status healing. I'm not sure if it will be viable, as it's otherwise a pretty bad Pokemon, and Rabsca may be a better pick for a one-trick-pony with a uniquely impactful trick.
Zarude
A niche but viable wallbreaker from last generation, this generation its ability to cure its own status ailments will be much more valuable. Moreover, it has a much better type matchup this generation. Last generation it lost typing-wise to the premier Unaware user, Clefable. This generation it has a super-effective STAB over Dondozo and Skeledirge. It remains to be seen whether this will be a major contender.
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Generation 9 Free-For-All
- Thread starter Darvin
- Start date
Right here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...S2_zDPBkgthO_ZQa2h1WgvUp_E/edit#gid=186442661
It's not 100% confirmed yet, but it comes from a source that has been accurate in the past.
Pokemon Home is upon us! The FFA council held a last-minute vote, and agreed to also unban Zamazenta's base form so we'll be in sync with OU on this issue. Tagging Kris to implement Free-For-All's bans and unbans with Pokemon home:
New Pokemon Bans
New Move Bans
New Pokemon Bans
- Arceus (all formes)
- Calyrex-Ice
- Calyrex-Shadow
- Dialga
- Dialga-Origin
- Giratina
- Giratina-Origin
- Groudon
- Kyogre
- Landorus-Incarnate
- Magearna
- Mewtwo
- Palkia
- Palkia-Origin
- Rayquaza
- Spectrier
- Urshifu-Single-Strike
- Zacian
- Zacian-Crowned
New Move Bans
- Last Respects
- Houndstone
It has come to our attention that Eternatus was missed in our banlist. This is on me, I missed it when compiling the list of box cover legendaries coming with Pokemon Home, and at each step I might have noticed that it wasn't there I just didn't. I apologize for that.
Eternatus is banned in FFA
Tagging Kris to implement
Eternatus is banned in FFA
Tagging Kris to implement
I am going to talk about my silly home team in its current form, because I feel like it.
Sadly haven't built one that uses a good bit of the home additions, but this is what I got. Functions more as an aggressive team in practice than it may initially appear. I do admit, however, that it is also not that optimized and needs some adjustments. Maybe some team member swaps.
One of my main objectives was to avoid being passive. Aka, I wanted this team to be capable at being a pest no matter what was on the field. Yes, that does put a bigger target on your back, but I've lost plenty of games because the only team members I had left were hobbists in standing there, realizing the act of clicking protect. In this current form, the team moderately succeeds at that, but it could probably do that better.
I've played a lot of matches with it, and I do have some good ideas as to how to further improve it. But it's a fun team that plays rather well, so I'm doing at least one (1) thing right.
Sadly haven't built one that uses a good bit of the home additions, but this is what I got. Functions more as an aggressive team in practice than it may initially appear. I do admit, however, that it is also not that optimized and needs some adjustments. Maybe some team member swaps.
Zamazenta @ Choice Band
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Wild Charge
- Ice Fang
Ability: Dauntless Shield
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Wild Charge
- Ice Fang
Congrats, dogs are now real. Rejoice. Dog with a knife was a menace to society, so dog with a shield had to get nerfed alongside it. And it still doesn't have recovery. So now it gets to hang out here for awhile. Doing dog things that involve defence, probably.
So I decided to use it in an offensive fashion as a late game cleaner. Here's the plan: I wear everyone down, and once everyone is worn down sufficiently, I unleash the hound. Doesn't matter if there's two players still left standing, because Zamazenta can take a hit or two, and it's also speedy and strong enough that one of them probably won't be an issue. Clean up what remains if needed.
Number one issue is the choice locking, as things can get dicey when you can't hunt all of the remaining mon(s). I'm considering either lefties for a more frequent attacker, or life orb for keeping it in its current role. Expert belt might be alright as well, since the good coverage is already there. It may also be an issue with me waiting until the lategame to use it.
So I decided to use it in an offensive fashion as a late game cleaner. Here's the plan: I wear everyone down, and once everyone is worn down sufficiently, I unleash the hound. Doesn't matter if there's two players still left standing, because Zamazenta can take a hit or two, and it's also speedy and strong enough that one of them probably won't be an issue. Clean up what remains if needed.
Number one issue is the choice locking, as things can get dicey when you can't hunt all of the remaining mon(s). I'm considering either lefties for a more frequent attacker, or life orb for keeping it in its current role. Expert belt might be alright as well, since the good coverage is already there. It may also be an issue with me waiting until the lategame to use it.
Skeledirge @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Torch Song
- Hex
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Slack Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Torch Song
- Hex
Bulky attacker that sits there and all around serves as a constant annoyance that can always perform some sort of havock, while not caring about stats shenanigans. One of my boosting contegencies, and for helping wear down opponents further. It can also work as a wincon if required. Usually the other mon closing out the game if Zamazenta didn't manage to do it.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heal Bell
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Heal Bell
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
I do not like Blissey, and I still do not like Blissey. I am using it completely against my will. However, Blissey now has Heal Bell, as per the prophecy. So I wanted to use Heal Bell, and using Blissey was simply a means to an end. But it's also a good pokemon, so that's not too much of a complaint. It sits on special attackers and does Blissey shenanigans. Like standing there and being pretty.
In practice, Heal Bell serves less as expected with the continued absence of toxic, and it's also very passive. Which is the eggshell crunching in your eggsalad. Contrary to the team objective. Probably viable for a set swap to Calm Mind + Shadow Ball so it is not passive.
In practice, Heal Bell serves less as expected with the continued absence of toxic, and it's also very passive. Which is the eggshell crunching in your eggsalad. Contrary to the team objective. Probably viable for a set swap to Calm Mind + Shadow Ball so it is not passive.
Scream Tail @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Bulk Up
- Play Rough
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Bulk Up
- Play Rough
Okay, so Blissey is there so I can play with heal bell, and has the stealth rocker role down. ST was the obvious next choice, because Zamazenta wants Wish support. Then I noticed it learns Bulk Up, and then I had an idea. And thus this set happened.
How successful is it? Decent enough to not be a gimmick, but there are some key issues. There's a lot of Fairy resists running around, which means that your millage may varry. Psychic Fangs may work as an alternative, but you'd be making a tradeoff. Also, you're also boosting a pretty weak 65 attack, which means that you'll probably not gain an impressive amount of power no matter what you do. It also makes ST considerbly less of a team player than usual, which for a wish passer probably isn't what you want.
That said, being able to patch up your defences is great, and having the potential to be an active threat is also neat. The set as a whole is pretty good, but it requires the right dynamic in your team. Usually you'll want t-wave or rocks instead, as those work better for a supportive wish passer.
How successful is it? Decent enough to not be a gimmick, but there are some key issues. There's a lot of Fairy resists running around, which means that your millage may varry. Psychic Fangs may work as an alternative, but you'd be making a tradeoff. Also, you're also boosting a pretty weak 65 attack, which means that you'll probably not gain an impressive amount of power no matter what you do. It also makes ST considerbly less of a team player than usual, which for a wish passer probably isn't what you want.
That said, being able to patch up your defences is great, and having the potential to be an active threat is also neat. The set as a whole is pretty good, but it requires the right dynamic in your team. Usually you'll want t-wave or rocks instead, as those work better for a supportive wish passer.
Amoonguss @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Pollen Puff
- Sludge Bomb
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Pollen Puff
- Sludge Bomb
Sadly the current weakest link. The only reason why it's on the team is because I like using it. Lasts for quite a bit, but the main issue is the lack of good coverage. Only attacking is all good until you find yourself with no valid targets to touch. It's not bad, and it still does some neat things - it just doesn't fit.
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Calm Nature
- Roost
- Defog
- Bulk Up
- Brave Bird
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Calm Nature
- Roost
- Defog
- Bulk Up
- Brave Bird
GF is still taunting us with the prospect of more bulky defoggers with recovery, and I am officially the joker. Brave Bird + Bulk Up for being more of an active pest and not getting bullied by ghosts.
One of my main objectives was to avoid being passive. Aka, I wanted this team to be capable at being a pest no matter what was on the field. Yes, that does put a bigger target on your back, but I've lost plenty of games because the only team members I had left were hobbists in standing there, realizing the act of clicking protect. In this current form, the team moderately succeeds at that, but it could probably do that better.
I've played a lot of matches with it, and I do have some good ideas as to how to further improve it. But it's a fun team that plays rather well, so I'm doing at least one (1) thing right.
It might be worth running a more defensive set, I've been finding that this one works really well
Amoonguss @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Pollen Puff
- Sludge BombSadly the current weakest link. The only reason why it's on the team is because I like using it. Lasts for quite a bit, but the main issue is the lack of good coverage. Only attacking is all good until you find yourself with no valid targets to touch. It's not bad, and it still does some neat things - it just doesn't fit.
Amoonguss @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Protect
Amoonguss kinda needs max SpA to do its job consistently:
252+ SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Garganacl: 156-186 (38.6 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Dondozo: 192-228 (38 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Scream Tail: 216-254 (49.7 - 58.5%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Amoonguss can't touch Corviknight or Blissey no matter what, so it really needs to be able to threaten out Garganacl, Dondozo, and Scream tail and put those defensive cores on the back foot. Being able to check some dangerous special attackers thanks to Assault Vest is a nice perk. I do think Tera Dark Foul Play is great, though, as it lets Amoonguss surprise and turn the tables on some nasty threats.
252+ SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Garganacl: 156-186 (38.6 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Amoonguss Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Dondozo: 192-228 (38 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Amoonguss Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Scream Tail: 216-254 (49.7 - 58.5%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Amoonguss can't touch Corviknight or Blissey no matter what, so it really needs to be able to threaten out Garganacl, Dondozo, and Scream tail and put those defensive cores on the back foot. Being able to check some dangerous special attackers thanks to Assault Vest is a nice perk. I do think Tera Dark Foul Play is great, though, as it lets Amoonguss surprise and turn the tables on some nasty threats.
The Free-For-All Council has held its first Post-Home vote, and we have a few bans to hand down.
Ursaluna
Free-For-All is a format that favors bulk over speed, where the chaos of 4 players gives offensive powerhouses ample opportunities to come in for free. In other words, our metagame was bear food. Ursaluna rips through teams and has very little in the way of counterplay. It doesn't even need Swords Dance, and with Rest/Talk it can stay healthy and continue to threaten opponents. Its presence is unhealthy, and is one of many threats creating a volatile metagame. In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Free-For-All council has decided to Ban Ursaluna.
Hoopa-Unbound
The frailty of Hoopa-U makes it an incredibly unreliable pick, prone to being KO'd before doing its job and unable to receive Wishes to get back up to full health. But when it does hit the field safely, it is almost guaranteed a KO. In a slow and ponderous format its base 80 Speed is more than enough to outspeed most threats; even with little to no speed investment, it's often the fastest thing on the field. Its power and coverage is enough to 2HKO almost anything. The only counterplay to Hoopa-U is hoping it doesn't attack you, and that everyone else gangs up on it to bring it down quickly. This is the hallmark of a broken Pokemon in FFA. The fact that it's inconsistent at its job does not redeem it, and just because "cross your fingers and hope to be not it" often works with this threat doesn't make that a healthy dynamic. In a vote of 4 ban and 1 abstain, the council has decided to Ban Hoopa-Unbound
Eternatus
This was my mistake, it somehow slipped through the radar and didn't get placed on our initial banlist. Needless to say, there is no way Eternatus is reasonable in Free-For-All. I'd like to thank the community at large for exercising restraint and not using this Pokemon. The ladder has only been playable because people haven't been abusing this. But to make it official, Eternatus is banned in Generation 9 Free-For-All
Tagging Kris and Marty to implement. Thank you!
Ursaluna
Free-For-All is a format that favors bulk over speed, where the chaos of 4 players gives offensive powerhouses ample opportunities to come in for free. In other words, our metagame was bear food. Ursaluna rips through teams and has very little in the way of counterplay. It doesn't even need Swords Dance, and with Rest/Talk it can stay healthy and continue to threaten opponents. Its presence is unhealthy, and is one of many threats creating a volatile metagame. In a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Free-For-All council has decided to Ban Ursaluna.
Hoopa-Unbound
The frailty of Hoopa-U makes it an incredibly unreliable pick, prone to being KO'd before doing its job and unable to receive Wishes to get back up to full health. But when it does hit the field safely, it is almost guaranteed a KO. In a slow and ponderous format its base 80 Speed is more than enough to outspeed most threats; even with little to no speed investment, it's often the fastest thing on the field. Its power and coverage is enough to 2HKO almost anything. The only counterplay to Hoopa-U is hoping it doesn't attack you, and that everyone else gangs up on it to bring it down quickly. This is the hallmark of a broken Pokemon in FFA. The fact that it's inconsistent at its job does not redeem it, and just because "cross your fingers and hope to be not it" often works with this threat doesn't make that a healthy dynamic. In a vote of 4 ban and 1 abstain, the council has decided to Ban Hoopa-Unbound
Eternatus
This was my mistake, it somehow slipped through the radar and didn't get placed on our initial banlist. Needless to say, there is no way Eternatus is reasonable in Free-For-All. I'd like to thank the community at large for exercising restraint and not using this Pokemon. The ladder has only been playable because people haven't been abusing this. But to make it official, Eternatus is banned in Generation 9 Free-For-All
Tagging Kris and Marty to implement. Thank you!
This post has been a long time coming, and it's time to just say it out loud: the Generation 9 Free-For-All metagame is not in a good place. While the council disagrees on the degree of the problem there is consensus that the team-building constraints are so severe that if you want to be consistent there is basically only one viable team with variations that swap out one or two members. While we are hoping that the DLC releases will bring some relief it's unlikely they will get the format back to the fun and diverse metagame we had in Generation 8. There are a number of problems that are coming together to create a very bad metagame.
The first and most straightforward issue is that the hazard situation is absolutely oppressive. There are a relatively large number of good setters that are highly effective at their job, and many more that are inconsistent but will still get hazards up at least once or twice. With three opponents all potentially setting Rocks and Spikes on you simultaneously it is very difficult to keep your field clear of hazards. The only Pokemon that is remotely consistent at the job is Corviknight, and even it can struggle with the raw offensive power of this metagame. Its Roosts are often forced, and that easy predictability means that even its monumental bulk and superb defensive typing can struggle. If Corviknight is struggling to make it happen, nothing else even has a chance. I've been seeing a lot of "Boots on everything" teams, and honestly it's justified.
But it's not just hazard control that suffers from poor options. Another move that's central to the metagame that had its distribution decimated is Wish. The loss of good Wish passing support really hurts balance and bulky offense, which relies heavily on Wish to keep their offenses pieces healthy throughout the match. In generation 8 this was often achieved with a min speed Flip Turn Vaporeon, min speed U-Turn Jirachi, or Teleport Clefable which could provide safe Wish passing. In generation 9 we have no viable options, and Wishes must be passed directly which is very risky for offensive teams and makes it hard to salvage injured teammates. This problem is only exacerbated by the hazard issue, and the increased offensive threat level which makes passing even harder. This largely prevents more offensive teams from functioning as offensive teams, since you just cannot afford to make aggressive plays in the early-game if it means you won't have your wallbreakers for later.
These two issues are bad enough as it stands, but what has pushed things over the edge is the rise of Hyper-Offense. If you're building a Balance team in OU, you need to be able to handle both Stall teams and Hyper-Offense teams. If you're building a Balance Team in FFA, you need to be able to handle Stall and Hyper Offense at the same time. And with the higher threat level of HO this generation, you just can't handle both Hyper-Offense and Stall at the same time. Well, at least not with Balance. Stall is the only archetype that can consistently handle every other archetype, everything else has to choose what kind of team composition it loses to. And with 3 opposing players, you're very likely to have an unfavorable matchup against at least one of them. In theory we have stallbreakers that can threaten stall, in practice they can't do their job while there's an offensive team pressuring them off the field. Trapping is also highly ineffective, as many Pokemon that you'd want to trap are running Tera Ghost and can just escape it.
This is deeply unhealthy and unfun, but it's not a problem that's easy to solve. There is no single threat that is causing this situation. Chien-Pao and Urshifu-Rapid-Strike are the most obvious offenders, but removing them would likely change nothing as there are no shortage of offensive threats ready to step up. Part of what makes the situation so difficult to handle is that we have a lot of threats that are outclassed but are still very dangerous and need to be accounted for in building. If anything, we might only make Stall even more oppressive by removing the biggest threats that stall needs to consider, while not really alleviating anything for the other archetypes which still have to pick and choose what they lose to.
Now, some might ask whether going NatDex is the solution. We don't think so. While going NatDex would solve our hazard and Wish passing problem, it would almost certainly exacerbate our Hyper-Offense problem. My personal opinion that Z-moves, Pursuit, and Hidden Power would cause immense problems our metagame. Maybe it'd be a better meta than what we have now, maybe it wouldn't, but we have little hope that it would be comparable to the incredibly well-balanced and fun Gen 8 FFA meta.
So here we stand, crossing our fingers that the DLC's cause a meta shift that fixes our problems even though we doubt it will be the case. We have no straightforward way to deal with the offensive situation without a large number of bans or a tera ban/restriction, the only real option available to us to handle hazards is a Spikes/Stealth Rock ban, and the only solution to our Wish situation is going NatDex which is not happening. And we already know that we're going to have to ban the new legendary trio, as their ability is clearly broken in our format. We will not be making any changes until the first DLC drops, at which point we will evaluate whether we want to move ahead with anything. If the hazard situation remains unmoved, expect a vote on Stealth Rock and Spikes to be our first course of action.
The first and most straightforward issue is that the hazard situation is absolutely oppressive. There are a relatively large number of good setters that are highly effective at their job, and many more that are inconsistent but will still get hazards up at least once or twice. With three opponents all potentially setting Rocks and Spikes on you simultaneously it is very difficult to keep your field clear of hazards. The only Pokemon that is remotely consistent at the job is Corviknight, and even it can struggle with the raw offensive power of this metagame. Its Roosts are often forced, and that easy predictability means that even its monumental bulk and superb defensive typing can struggle. If Corviknight is struggling to make it happen, nothing else even has a chance. I've been seeing a lot of "Boots on everything" teams, and honestly it's justified.
But it's not just hazard control that suffers from poor options. Another move that's central to the metagame that had its distribution decimated is Wish. The loss of good Wish passing support really hurts balance and bulky offense, which relies heavily on Wish to keep their offenses pieces healthy throughout the match. In generation 8 this was often achieved with a min speed Flip Turn Vaporeon, min speed U-Turn Jirachi, or Teleport Clefable which could provide safe Wish passing. In generation 9 we have no viable options, and Wishes must be passed directly which is very risky for offensive teams and makes it hard to salvage injured teammates. This problem is only exacerbated by the hazard issue, and the increased offensive threat level which makes passing even harder. This largely prevents more offensive teams from functioning as offensive teams, since you just cannot afford to make aggressive plays in the early-game if it means you won't have your wallbreakers for later.
These two issues are bad enough as it stands, but what has pushed things over the edge is the rise of Hyper-Offense. If you're building a Balance team in OU, you need to be able to handle both Stall teams and Hyper-Offense teams. If you're building a Balance Team in FFA, you need to be able to handle Stall and Hyper Offense at the same time. And with the higher threat level of HO this generation, you just can't handle both Hyper-Offense and Stall at the same time. Well, at least not with Balance. Stall is the only archetype that can consistently handle every other archetype, everything else has to choose what kind of team composition it loses to. And with 3 opposing players, you're very likely to have an unfavorable matchup against at least one of them. In theory we have stallbreakers that can threaten stall, in practice they can't do their job while there's an offensive team pressuring them off the field. Trapping is also highly ineffective, as many Pokemon that you'd want to trap are running Tera Ghost and can just escape it.
This is deeply unhealthy and unfun, but it's not a problem that's easy to solve. There is no single threat that is causing this situation. Chien-Pao and Urshifu-Rapid-Strike are the most obvious offenders, but removing them would likely change nothing as there are no shortage of offensive threats ready to step up. Part of what makes the situation so difficult to handle is that we have a lot of threats that are outclassed but are still very dangerous and need to be accounted for in building. If anything, we might only make Stall even more oppressive by removing the biggest threats that stall needs to consider, while not really alleviating anything for the other archetypes which still have to pick and choose what they lose to.
Now, some might ask whether going NatDex is the solution. We don't think so. While going NatDex would solve our hazard and Wish passing problem, it would almost certainly exacerbate our Hyper-Offense problem. My personal opinion that Z-moves, Pursuit, and Hidden Power would cause immense problems our metagame. Maybe it'd be a better meta than what we have now, maybe it wouldn't, but we have little hope that it would be comparable to the incredibly well-balanced and fun Gen 8 FFA meta.
So here we stand, crossing our fingers that the DLC's cause a meta shift that fixes our problems even though we doubt it will be the case. We have no straightforward way to deal with the offensive situation without a large number of bans or a tera ban/restriction, the only real option available to us to handle hazards is a Spikes/Stealth Rock ban, and the only solution to our Wish situation is going NatDex which is not happening. And we already know that we're going to have to ban the new legendary trio, as their ability is clearly broken in our format. We will not be making any changes until the first DLC drops, at which point we will evaluate whether we want to move ahead with anything. If the hazard situation remains unmoved, expect a vote on Stealth Rock and Spikes to be our first course of action.
Commenting on the above post:
As someone who's favourite OU meta is Gen 1 and enjoys Gen 2 OU on a theoretical level, the current meta reminds me of that kind of environment. It shares a similar appeal to those metas. A good team is close to predetermined because of the one mandatory mon (Corvikight) and other borderline mandatory ones (Blissey/Chansey, Scream Tail. Dondozo) which put a constraint on other team members you can choose. Everyone is using similar tools, and the focus is more on gameplay rather than teambuilding.
That said, this is very alienating from what modern players of competitive pokemon expect or want out of a metagame, I agree with the rest of the council that FFA definitely needs some major tiering action to get into a better state. The diverse team building is part of what I have historically enjoyed about the format, and quite frankly having one pokemon be mandatory on every good team (Corviknight) is inexcusable. Having a mandatory mon puts a lot of constraints on teambuilding, because mons who have overlap with it become considerably harder to fit. You can't even use the Snorelax argument of set diversity, because Corviknight quite frankly doesn't have that.
If hazards do go, there will likely be a lot of general changes to the meta as a whole. For one example, regenerator becomes a concern because there's no hazard damage to offset it, and the users of regenerator are already pretty good. I do believe that things will ultimately be way better that way, however.
As someone who's favourite OU meta is Gen 1 and enjoys Gen 2 OU on a theoretical level, the current meta reminds me of that kind of environment. It shares a similar appeal to those metas. A good team is close to predetermined because of the one mandatory mon (Corvikight) and other borderline mandatory ones (Blissey/Chansey, Scream Tail. Dondozo) which put a constraint on other team members you can choose. Everyone is using similar tools, and the focus is more on gameplay rather than teambuilding.
That said, this is very alienating from what modern players of competitive pokemon expect or want out of a metagame, I agree with the rest of the council that FFA definitely needs some major tiering action to get into a better state. The diverse team building is part of what I have historically enjoyed about the format, and quite frankly having one pokemon be mandatory on every good team (Corviknight) is inexcusable. Having a mandatory mon puts a lot of constraints on teambuilding, because mons who have overlap with it become considerably harder to fit. You can't even use the Snorelax argument of set diversity, because Corviknight quite frankly doesn't have that.
If hazards do go, there will likely be a lot of general changes to the meta as a whole. For one example, regenerator becomes a concern because there's no hazard damage to offset it, and the users of regenerator are already pretty good. I do believe that things will ultimately be way better that way, however.
Not sure if this is the right place for thi type of question, sorry if it's not.
So I know you can challenge a friend to whatever metagame on Showdown, but is it currently possible to set up a Free for All with 3 friends in the same way, or is that not currently doable?
So I know you can challenge a friend to whatever metagame on Showdown, but is it currently possible to set up a Free for All with 3 friends in the same way, or is that not currently doable?
You have to invite all 3 friends to the same room. Send out an invite for a FFA and then when in the game send out invites to your other friends.
The Free-For-All Council has gone over everything from the new DLC drop, and concluded its necessary votes for our banlist:
Darkrai and Shaymin are obvious Uber level threats, and I don't feel there's much I need to discuss there. Toxic Chain is banned due to our general policy of banning all sources of the Badly Poisoned condition. All of the Loyal Three have hidden abilities, so they will remain legal with those other abilities. But let's talk about the final ban and the new Pokemon and updated Pokemon that will be relevant to Free-For-All:
Blood Moon Ursaluna takes advantage of the slow nature of the format with its tremendous bulk and offensive presence. There are very few Pokemon in our format that can handle its Normal/Ground STAB combo, basically just Calm Mind Blissey and Corviknight. It comes equipped with Calm Mind and Moonlight to stay healthy and set up to break through, it has advantaged matchups against all of the Unaware Pokemon, it can easily afford to run either offensive or defensive terrastalization to cover its checks, and it needs no coverage. Originally we had this pegged on our watch list, as something to vote on after a few days of trying it out, but the lack of defensive counterplay convinced the majority of the council that a ban was in order and there was no need to go through several days of getting mauled by bears to come to an obvious conclusion.
The legend returns. Clefable was an absolutely dominant and central facet of the Generation 8 Free-For-All metagame, with a wide variety of viable sets and serving a critical role as glue on many teams. It could serve as a wish passer, an end-game win condition, or a countermeasure to those very kinds of win conditions with Unaware. Coming into this generation it faces new competition in these roles. With Teleport removed, Scream Tail outclasses in the Wish support role. Meanwhile, rather than being the only noteworthy Unaware user in Generation 8, Clefable will be joining the existing trio of Dondozo, Clodsire, and Skeledirge and turning it into a quartet. What sets Clefable apart from the other Unaware users is its access to Stored Power, allowing it to win setup wars. Its Magic Guard ability will remain a potent option, as even with Toxic banned we still have hazards, burns, and regular poison everywhere. It doesn't necessarily need Unaware in order to beat the other Unaware users with Stored Power. While it may not reprise its central role in the metagame, it will doubtlessly fit in with the big players.
We have ourselves a second viable Defogger. Mandibuzz was a respectable choice for Defog in Generation 8, with the bulk and typing to come onto the field and remove rocks, and with Taunt to allow it to keep some measure of momentum and deny an opponent opportunities to heal. Foul Play give it some measure of offensive presence. I see Mandibuzz serving as a very good alternative to Corviknight for Defog support. Unfortunately this still means all of our viable hazard control is Electric weak and a bit on the passive side. We don't really have any equivalent of Zadpos as a defogger that really fit on more offensive teams, but we at least have some choice now.
Ogerpon is an interesting new addition. It has serviceable bulk and access to reliable recovery, Horn Leech to keep it healthy as it attacks, Swords Dance, and a customizable STAB combination. It has alternative options like Taunt, Spikes, and Knock Off if you want to play it a little differently, but its ability to beat Dondozo with its main STAB and run secondary STAB options to beat both Skeledirge and Clodsire means it definitely has a lot of attraction as a setup attacker. Overall it looks like it has some real potential to be good in our format.
Of the Loyal Three, Fezandipit is the only one that looks like it will have much merit in our format. Munkidori seems completely outclassed by Galarian Slowking, and Okidogi doesn't seem to offer much over other Fighting types. Without their signature abilities, these Pokemon really don't have much to offer in Free-For-All. Fezandipiti, on the other hand, offers very good defenses with a solid type combination and reliable recovery. Offensively it leaves much to be desired, with a high physical attack stat but a better special movepool. It also lacks any way to hit Steel-types, since Heat Wave is not a very good move in Free-For-All. However, Technician boosted Acid Spray combined with Taunt will shut down any defensive Pokemon that isn't a Steel-type. It also has its choice of Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, and Swords Dance so it can be a dangerous setup sweeper, though it has no good way of beating Clodsire or Skeledirge.
With the addition of Flip Turn to Alomomola, we finally have a slow and bulky Wish pivot. I am seriously excited for what this thing will do for our metagame, in terms of opening up entirely new playstyles that formerly struggled to keep their offensive pieces healthy. Its passivity and the unreliability of hard Wish passing made it a major disappointment earlier this generation, but with Scald to finally provide it a threatening move and Flip Turn to deliver those wishes reliably its fortunes may have changed.
Jirachi is back, and it still has all the moves it needs to run the standard set it did last generation: Future Sight, Wish, Protect, and U-Turn. Jirachi's ability to pass either an offensive Future Sight or a defensive Wish depending on what the situation calls for makes it a very flexible piece of glue for more offensive compositions, and while it's a little bit fast even if you run minimum speed it can still underspeed enough to keep those wishes reasonably safe. We've gone from zero viable Wish pivots to two, which bodes very well for improved team composition diversity in this format.
Among a few other relevant Pokemon, Clodsire got High Horsepower. With spread moves having their power halved in FFA, Earthquake is not a particularly good move and Clodsire along with many other physical Ground-types was forced to get by with Stomping Tantrum. High Horsepower is a very noteworthy improvement over that move, and being single-target it does not have the problem that Earthquake does. While other Ground-types will also benefit, Clodsire is the biggest winner of this moveset addition.
While it didn't get Defog, Empoleon still gets Roost and offers a very good stat line with an amazing defensive typing. Unfortunately it's torn apart between Physical and Special. It has Swords Dance and it lacks a good Special Water STAB, but its Hidden Ability has been changed to Competitive and it lacks a good Physical Steel STAB. In terms of coverage, Grass Knot is the obvious way to go to threaten opposing Water-types that otherwise wall its STAB combo. Overall it has some promise but some clear conflicts in what it wants to be doing.
- Toxic Chain ability is banned
- Darkrai is banned
- Shaymin-Sky is banned
- Blood Moon Ursaluna is banned
Darkrai and Shaymin are obvious Uber level threats, and I don't feel there's much I need to discuss there. Toxic Chain is banned due to our general policy of banning all sources of the Badly Poisoned condition. All of the Loyal Three have hidden abilities, so they will remain legal with those other abilities. But let's talk about the final ban and the new Pokemon and updated Pokemon that will be relevant to Free-For-All:
Blood Moon Ursaluna takes advantage of the slow nature of the format with its tremendous bulk and offensive presence. There are very few Pokemon in our format that can handle its Normal/Ground STAB combo, basically just Calm Mind Blissey and Corviknight. It comes equipped with Calm Mind and Moonlight to stay healthy and set up to break through, it has advantaged matchups against all of the Unaware Pokemon, it can easily afford to run either offensive or defensive terrastalization to cover its checks, and it needs no coverage. Originally we had this pegged on our watch list, as something to vote on after a few days of trying it out, but the lack of defensive counterplay convinced the majority of the council that a ban was in order and there was no need to go through several days of getting mauled by bears to come to an obvious conclusion.
The legend returns. Clefable was an absolutely dominant and central facet of the Generation 8 Free-For-All metagame, with a wide variety of viable sets and serving a critical role as glue on many teams. It could serve as a wish passer, an end-game win condition, or a countermeasure to those very kinds of win conditions with Unaware. Coming into this generation it faces new competition in these roles. With Teleport removed, Scream Tail outclasses in the Wish support role. Meanwhile, rather than being the only noteworthy Unaware user in Generation 8, Clefable will be joining the existing trio of Dondozo, Clodsire, and Skeledirge and turning it into a quartet. What sets Clefable apart from the other Unaware users is its access to Stored Power, allowing it to win setup wars. Its Magic Guard ability will remain a potent option, as even with Toxic banned we still have hazards, burns, and regular poison everywhere. It doesn't necessarily need Unaware in order to beat the other Unaware users with Stored Power. While it may not reprise its central role in the metagame, it will doubtlessly fit in with the big players.
We have ourselves a second viable Defogger. Mandibuzz was a respectable choice for Defog in Generation 8, with the bulk and typing to come onto the field and remove rocks, and with Taunt to allow it to keep some measure of momentum and deny an opponent opportunities to heal. Foul Play give it some measure of offensive presence. I see Mandibuzz serving as a very good alternative to Corviknight for Defog support. Unfortunately this still means all of our viable hazard control is Electric weak and a bit on the passive side. We don't really have any equivalent of Zadpos as a defogger that really fit on more offensive teams, but we at least have some choice now.
Ogerpon is an interesting new addition. It has serviceable bulk and access to reliable recovery, Horn Leech to keep it healthy as it attacks, Swords Dance, and a customizable STAB combination. It has alternative options like Taunt, Spikes, and Knock Off if you want to play it a little differently, but its ability to beat Dondozo with its main STAB and run secondary STAB options to beat both Skeledirge and Clodsire means it definitely has a lot of attraction as a setup attacker. Overall it looks like it has some real potential to be good in our format.
Of the Loyal Three, Fezandipit is the only one that looks like it will have much merit in our format. Munkidori seems completely outclassed by Galarian Slowking, and Okidogi doesn't seem to offer much over other Fighting types. Without their signature abilities, these Pokemon really don't have much to offer in Free-For-All. Fezandipiti, on the other hand, offers very good defenses with a solid type combination and reliable recovery. Offensively it leaves much to be desired, with a high physical attack stat but a better special movepool. It also lacks any way to hit Steel-types, since Heat Wave is not a very good move in Free-For-All. However, Technician boosted Acid Spray combined with Taunt will shut down any defensive Pokemon that isn't a Steel-type. It also has its choice of Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, and Swords Dance so it can be a dangerous setup sweeper, though it has no good way of beating Clodsire or Skeledirge.
With the addition of Flip Turn to Alomomola, we finally have a slow and bulky Wish pivot. I am seriously excited for what this thing will do for our metagame, in terms of opening up entirely new playstyles that formerly struggled to keep their offensive pieces healthy. Its passivity and the unreliability of hard Wish passing made it a major disappointment earlier this generation, but with Scald to finally provide it a threatening move and Flip Turn to deliver those wishes reliably its fortunes may have changed.
Jirachi is back, and it still has all the moves it needs to run the standard set it did last generation: Future Sight, Wish, Protect, and U-Turn. Jirachi's ability to pass either an offensive Future Sight or a defensive Wish depending on what the situation calls for makes it a very flexible piece of glue for more offensive compositions, and while it's a little bit fast even if you run minimum speed it can still underspeed enough to keep those wishes reasonably safe. We've gone from zero viable Wish pivots to two, which bodes very well for improved team composition diversity in this format.
Among a few other relevant Pokemon, Clodsire got High Horsepower. With spread moves having their power halved in FFA, Earthquake is not a particularly good move and Clodsire along with many other physical Ground-types was forced to get by with Stomping Tantrum. High Horsepower is a very noteworthy improvement over that move, and being single-target it does not have the problem that Earthquake does. While other Ground-types will also benefit, Clodsire is the biggest winner of this moveset addition.
While it didn't get Defog, Empoleon still gets Roost and offers a very good stat line with an amazing defensive typing. Unfortunately it's torn apart between Physical and Special. It has Swords Dance and it lacks a good Special Water STAB, but its Hidden Ability has been changed to Competitive and it lacks a good Physical Steel STAB. In terms of coverage, Grass Knot is the obvious way to go to threaten opposing Water-types that otherwise wall its STAB combo. Overall it has some promise but some clear conflicts in what it wants to be doing.
quick thoughts:
this is very good, think its indisputably top tier now. passing massive wishes while slowpivoting with flip is both unique and extremely valuable. add scald and regen to the mix and i think the mon is meta-defining.
new defogger lets gooo
mon is awesome. tg is of course great stuff and i think you can genuinely get away with tera psychic psyshock to break blobs if you feel the need (eball last i think). take heart sets are also nice.
edit: it doest get psyshock rip mon is still good tho
i love this guy. no roost means you should proooobably run protect but protect is still a very very good move on gliscor because ph is broken. you can just spam knock/spikes when it feels good to do so, in a ffa environment their corv isnt always good to defog and knock is of course very juicy. i think sd sets with facade (or tera water crabhammer? lol) also have potential tho i havent tried em yet. have i mentioned ph is broken?
shouldve talked about this weeks ago but i feel this mon is quite underrated (tho im not in the discord so i wouldnt know for sure). same set as everywhere else (cm/sp/moon/moon) with tera fairy or poison or steel holds up amazingly well here. you know what this does, but i think it shines especially bright in ffa. we have dlc now but i do not think much has changed for this guy aside from more knock distribution.
this is very good, think its indisputably top tier now. passing massive wishes while slowpivoting with flip is both unique and extremely valuable. add scald and regen to the mix and i think the mon is meta-defining. new defogger lets gooo mon is awesome. tg is of course great stuff and i think you can genuinely get away with tera psychic psyshock to break blobs if you feel the need (eball last i think). take heart sets are also nice.edit: it doest get psyshock rip mon is still good tho
i love this guy. no roost means you should proooobably run protect but protect is still a very very good move on gliscor because ph is broken. you can just spam knock/spikes when it feels good to do so, in a ffa environment their corv isnt always good to defog and knock is of course very juicy. i think sd sets with facade (or tera water crabhammer? lol) also have potential tho i havent tried em yet. have i mentioned ph is broken? shouldve talked about this weeks ago but i feel this mon is quite underrated (tho im not in the discord so i wouldnt know for sure). same set as everywhere else (cm/sp/moon/moon) with tera fairy or poison or steel holds up amazingly well here. you know what this does, but i think it shines especially bright in ffa. we have dlc now but i do not think much has changed for this guy aside from more knock distribution.
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This thing is actually really promising. It has a good defensive profile, but also a very strong special attack. Strength Sap keeps it alive in a meta where you need some amount of sustain, and it also has Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to set itself up.
While Matcha Gotcha is a spread move and therefore not very good for concentrated assaults, the fact that it has a 20% chance to burn turns it into something akin to a spread Scald. Even if it's only a 20% chance, Sinistcha can afford to roll the dice to eventually burn something. Heal Bell distribution is also still limited to Chancey/Blissey, so unless you're running those blobs with that move, your opponents are stuck with it.
Because it is immune to Body Press, and because Dondozo needs attack investment to have a chance KO it with Wave Crash at +6, it pretty much completely walls Dondozo. Even then, unless the other two players are being uncoperative, you can't expect Dondozo to be able to hit it at +6 due to Strength Sap. With full special attack investment, it at worse 2 HKOs Dondozo with Energy Ball. In addition, Grass + Ghost STAB have neutral monotype coverage, meaning that there's not much Dondozo can do on the tera side of things to resist it completely. Dondozo also cannot fit Tera Blast into either of its standard movesets. There's not much a Dondozo can do against it, even if Sinistcha cannot remove it.
It'll definitely have a place in the meta, because being able to bully Dondozo into oblivion is a really good trait. On top of that, threatening to burn every single mon on the field is always valuable.
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hi its me again, i wanna talk about a certain set, imported from bh
TOWER OF POWER (Gholdengo) @ Light Clay
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
this does not have to be gholdengo, i just like it because its defensive typing and gag prevents corv from fogging on it. really it can be anything with screens+recover, i also like slowking (glowking doesnt learn reflect fsr) with regen+very slow pivot making very efficient use of screens turns.
defensive/utility screens doesnt work in standard singles because you lose too much tempo and opposing pokemon are quite strong relative to your bulk, forcing you to spend even more turns keeping yourself healthy. in bh, everything is so fat that, depending on your team and situation, you can afford to spend a bit of time setting up screens and running away (universal prankster and regen is also huge). and the payoff can be great, since your defensive pokemon is now in very little danger of being broken through, and your powerful attackers become much harder to challenge. these sets are called tower of power sets (for some reason. ask cityscapes).
in ffa, the often slow pace of games and the almost universal bulk and mostly weak attacks allow tower of power to, in my opinion, function very well here. you are often given more than enough room to throw up a screen or both, and then your team now shielded from attacks for the next 8 turns. moreover, setup attackers like ogerpon, iron hands, and manaphy can become menances under screens because they now have much more room to setup and kill people. the presence of alomomola is also huge, since it can keep the usually mostly healing-less attackers healthy, as well as tower of power itself if it has to throw up a screen and run away without healing.
also both hearthflame and sd gliscor (both eq+facade/crab and acro+fling) goes very hard, use them.
TOWER OF POWER (Gholdengo) @ Light Clay
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
this does not have to be gholdengo, i just like it because its defensive typing and gag prevents corv from fogging on it. really it can be anything with screens+recover, i also like slowking (glowking doesnt learn reflect fsr) with regen+very slow pivot making very efficient use of screens turns.
defensive/utility screens doesnt work in standard singles because you lose too much tempo and opposing pokemon are quite strong relative to your bulk, forcing you to spend even more turns keeping yourself healthy. in bh, everything is so fat that, depending on your team and situation, you can afford to spend a bit of time setting up screens and running away (universal prankster and regen is also huge). and the payoff can be great, since your defensive pokemon is now in very little danger of being broken through, and your powerful attackers become much harder to challenge. these sets are called tower of power sets (for some reason. ask cityscapes).
in ffa, the often slow pace of games and the almost universal bulk and mostly weak attacks allow tower of power to, in my opinion, function very well here. you are often given more than enough room to throw up a screen or both, and then your team now shielded from attacks for the next 8 turns. moreover, setup attackers like ogerpon, iron hands, and manaphy can become menances under screens because they now have much more room to setup and kill people. the presence of alomomola is also huge, since it can keep the usually mostly healing-less attackers healthy, as well as tower of power itself if it has to throw up a screen and run away without healing.
also both hearthflame and sd gliscor (both eq+facade/crab and acro+fling) goes very hard, use them.
So this format has been pretty cool, other than the insane hazard situation. This has been a pretty good set for Gholdengo that I've been using lately. Focuses more on being a surprise check for quite a few physical attackers rather than a special sweeper.
I hope that somebody finds this helpful, I'm not sure how to end this.
William (Gholdengo) @ Leftovers
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Def / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot/Protect
- Flash Cannon/Dazzling Gleam/Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Def / 40 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot/Protect
- Flash Cannon/Dazzling Gleam/Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
so this set came about one night while thinking up a funny Gholdengo set to check Great Tusk, and despite never fighting tusk with it, this slightly changed set worked well for me in ffa. I don't really have calcs for this spread, I it's hard to test when you could get hit by 3 moves at once.
Fairy is a generally a good defensive type, but Gholdengo can use it to better manage opponents with Knock Off, especially after Teal Mask dropped and more mons learned it.
Nasty Plot can be used for set up for a better late game finisher, but Protect can help with somewhat of a bulky pivot role to switch in and out more often to avoid status moves. Either works well, depending on what you want from the set. I prefer the pivot to take full advantage of the many resistances and immunities that Ghost/Steel provides.
Flash Cannon is a solid STAB move that has better PP and power than Make It Rain when multiple opponents are out, plus no Sp.Atk drop. Gleam hits Dark types that would otherwise eat Shadow Ball all day, plus tera STAB helps, although it's better in 1v1 situations than against multiple Pokémon. Thunderbolt is there as a way to hit Corviknight when you still want to use this Gholdengo on a hazards team.
Recover and Shadow Ball are staples for this set. Due to no Sp.Atk investment, STAB Shadow Ball is your best offensive bet, hitting many pokemon for at least neutral damage, with the 20% chance to lower Sp.Def being quite helpful. Recover needs no explanation, healing is vital for a bulky Pokémon of any kind in this format
Fairy is a generally a good defensive type, but Gholdengo can use it to better manage opponents with Knock Off, especially after Teal Mask dropped and more mons learned it.
Nasty Plot can be used for set up for a better late game finisher, but Protect can help with somewhat of a bulky pivot role to switch in and out more often to avoid status moves. Either works well, depending on what you want from the set. I prefer the pivot to take full advantage of the many resistances and immunities that Ghost/Steel provides.
Flash Cannon is a solid STAB move that has better PP and power than Make It Rain when multiple opponents are out, plus no Sp.Atk drop. Gleam hits Dark types that would otherwise eat Shadow Ball all day, plus tera STAB helps, although it's better in 1v1 situations than against multiple Pokémon. Thunderbolt is there as a way to hit Corviknight when you still want to use this Gholdengo on a hazards team.
Recover and Shadow Ball are staples for this set. Due to no Sp.Atk investment, STAB Shadow Ball is your best offensive bet, hitting many pokemon for at least neutral damage, with the 20% chance to lower Sp.Def being quite helpful. Recover needs no explanation, healing is vital for a bulky Pokémon of any kind in this format
I hope that somebody finds this helpful, I'm not sure how to end this.
I really like the Nasty Plot/Recover/Flash Cannon/Shadow Ball set for Gholdengo. It's got the typing and reliable recovery to stay on the field throughout the game, a great STAB combo that's hard to answer, and is really hard to answer. It's one of the big threats I always consider in teambuilding because so few things can consistently handle it. This is one of the big reasons that Shadow Ball Blissey is such a huge metagame threat right now, because it's a solid answer to this Gholdengo.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind/Heal Bell/Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
This Blissey set gives up a modest amount of bulk in order to serve as a check to special ghost types. With its SpA investment its Shadow Ball hits surprisingly hard, while the loss of bulk is not particularly noticeable since Blissey already has a massive HP stat. With Calm Mind this Blissey easily defeats threats such as Gholdengo or Skeledirge, but even with unboosted Shadow Balls it can often force them out as they will need to Recover stall and will either run out of PP or get a SpD drop. Because of this you can drop Calm Mind for Heal Bell or Stealth Rock to fill the team role if necessary. Tera Ghost allows it to answer Fighting-types while boosting Shadow Ball even further, at the cost of losing its ability to safely handle Ghosts, and also escaping attempts to trap it. This gives it a lot of matchup flexibility. Overall this set is a really easy inclusion on any team for its ability to check dangerous sets like that Gholdengo.
Blissey @ Leftovers Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind/Heal Bell/Stealth Rock
- Seismic Toss
This Blissey set gives up a modest amount of bulk in order to serve as a check to special ghost types. With its SpA investment its Shadow Ball hits surprisingly hard, while the loss of bulk is not particularly noticeable since Blissey already has a massive HP stat. With Calm Mind this Blissey easily defeats threats such as Gholdengo or Skeledirge, but even with unboosted Shadow Balls it can often force them out as they will need to Recover stall and will either run out of PP or get a SpD drop. Because of this you can drop Calm Mind for Heal Bell or Stealth Rock to fill the team role if necessary. Tera Ghost allows it to answer Fighting-types while boosting Shadow Ball even further, at the cost of losing its ability to safely handle Ghosts, and also escaping attempts to trap it. This gives it a lot of matchup flexibility. Overall this set is a really easy inclusion on any team for its ability to check dangerous sets like that Gholdengo.
What would be your thoughts on running both that Blissey and Gholdengo on the same team? Gholdengo gets hurt pretty badly by mirror match ups and Skeledirge, and Blissey can switch in to get them out of there or even take them out to let Gholdengo come in and clean up much easier.
Blissey is a great addition to any FFA team, and if you're having trouble with Ghosts then Shadow Ball is a very natural move choice for it. I actually have run that Gholdengo set with Shadow Ball Blissey on the same team. Mandibuzz would also be a good choice here, as it has better type synergy with Gholdengo than Corviknight does.
We have updated the Viability Rankings for the DLC release. Check it out here!
In addition, we have four new sample teams to choose from. The old ones were seriously outdated, so I'm very happy to get some good ones out there.
Unaware Spam Stall by Darvin
Zamazenta Balance by Darvin
Sun Balance by Opacous
Volt-Turn Offense by Abandoned Samurai
Now, a lot of these I already touched upon when the DLC first dropped. Mandibuzz, Clefable, and Jirachi have filled exactly the niche we thought they would. Ogerpon has proven to be a powerful force, and Hearthflame in particular is something on our watch list. It does face trouble as its bulk and speed aren't that high and it's prone to getting overwhelmed or outsped before it can recover off damage, and can't necessarily overwhelm in practice as well as it does on paper. However, it is exceedingly difficult to handle defensively and in a format where you need to pivot around 3 opponents at once that's a problem. We will be watching it carefully.
But there is one Pokemon that needs to be addressed, and that's Blissey, which is now in S rank. The pink blob has risen dramatically in prominence. It's the premier special wall of Free-For-All, and has the ability to set hazards, spread status, and cure status. But what makes it stand out and elevates it above little sister Chansey is its decent Special Attack stat. With Shadow Ball and normal typing it serves as a powerful check to the tier's dangerous Ghost-types, and with Calm Mind can potentially be an offensive threat in its own right. Blissey's ability to check so many different threats while being threatening itself is what lead us to promote it to S.
In addition, we have four new sample teams to choose from. The old ones were seriously outdated, so I'm very happy to get some good ones out there.
Unaware Spam Stall by Darvin
Zamazenta Balance by Darvin
Sun Balance by Opacous
Volt-Turn Offense by Abandoned Samurai
Now, a lot of these I already touched upon when the DLC first dropped. Mandibuzz, Clefable, and Jirachi have filled exactly the niche we thought they would. Ogerpon has proven to be a powerful force, and Hearthflame in particular is something on our watch list. It does face trouble as its bulk and speed aren't that high and it's prone to getting overwhelmed or outsped before it can recover off damage, and can't necessarily overwhelm in practice as well as it does on paper. However, it is exceedingly difficult to handle defensively and in a format where you need to pivot around 3 opponents at once that's a problem. We will be watching it carefully.
But there is one Pokemon that needs to be addressed, and that's
Blissey, which is now in S rank. The pink blob has risen dramatically in prominence. It's the premier special wall of Free-For-All, and has the ability to set hazards, spread status, and cure status. But what makes it stand out and elevates it above little sister Chansey is its decent Special Attack stat. With Shadow Ball and normal typing it serves as a powerful check to the tier's dangerous Ghost-types, and with Calm Mind can potentially be an offensive threat in its own right. Blissey's ability to check so many different threats while being threatening itself is what lead us to promote it to S.The Free-For-All council has voted on our banlist changes going into Indigo Disk, and these are the unanimous results:
Bans
This means that Deoxys-Speed, Deoxys-Defense, and Kyurem-Black will be allowed in Generation 9 Free-For-All.
Let's talk about the things that got banned and didn't get banned.
Darkrai may be getting unbanned in OU, but we feel that it's too much for Free-For-All. With Tera Poison it has no counters and very few good checks. The slower speed investment of this metagame also helps Darkrai, as Zamazenta and Chien-Pao are the only common Pokemon that outspeed it. In addition, Dark Void is an incredibly obnoxious move that will almost certainly be used by trolls to slow down the game and create literal snooze-fests. We feel it's better if Darkrai remains banned.
Kyurem-Black has a lot of great things going for it this generation, with Tera Electric finally giving it STAB on Fusion Bolt and Loaded Dice having great synergy with Icicle Spear. However, it lost access to Roost which greatly hampers the bulky sets that it would like to run. We're keeping our eye on this Pokemon since it looks like it might have been pushed over the edge, but given that Kyurem was a healthy part of the Generation 8 metagame and Baxcalibur never took off in Generation 9 Free-For-All we are cautiously optimistic that Kyurem-Black will still be fine.
Deoxys-Speed will likely be unviable in Free-For-All. I don't see any niche for it to fill.
Deoxys-Defense, on the other hand, looks like a very interesting addition to our format. Aside from its phenomenal bulk, it offers a lot of cool options. It's a great hazard setter, a Future Sight/Teleport pivot, and it has a fascinating omniboosting set with Cosmic Power/Meteor Beam/Stored Power/Recover. I look forward to see how it plays out.
Palafin never got tested in Free-For-All, and was just banned since it was banned in OU. Since then, it's become clear that strong Water resists are just a necessity on FFA teams and the metagame seems like it could be prepared to handle Palafin. While Urshifu is dancing on the edge of being banworthy and may yet receive that treatment before the generation is out, the council agrees that if Urshifu is a borderline case then Palafin definitely deserves to at least see the light of day in FFA.
I'm looking forward to testing these as well as learning about some of the new Pokemon and trying them out in our format. I'd also add that we are aware of Pechurant, but it is currently unreleased. We will address it when it arrives, as it is most certainly broken in Free-For-All.
Bans
Lugia
Ho-oh- Darkrai
Reshiram
Zekrom
Kyurem-White
Solgaleo
Lunala
Necrozma-Dawn Wings
Necrozma-Dusk Mane
Deoxys
Deoxys Attack
- Palafin
This means that Deoxys-Speed, Deoxys-Defense, and Kyurem-Black will be allowed in Generation 9 Free-For-All.
Let's talk about the things that got banned and didn't get banned.
Darkrai may be getting unbanned in OU, but we feel that it's too much for Free-For-All. With Tera Poison it has no counters and very few good checks. The slower speed investment of this metagame also helps Darkrai, as Zamazenta and Chien-Pao are the only common Pokemon that outspeed it. In addition, Dark Void is an incredibly obnoxious move that will almost certainly be used by trolls to slow down the game and create literal snooze-fests. We feel it's better if Darkrai remains banned. Kyurem-Black has a lot of great things going for it this generation, with Tera Electric finally giving it STAB on Fusion Bolt and Loaded Dice having great synergy with Icicle Spear. However, it lost access to Roost which greatly hampers the bulky sets that it would like to run. We're keeping our eye on this Pokemon since it looks like it might have been pushed over the edge, but given that Kyurem was a healthy part of the Generation 8 metagame and Baxcalibur never took off in Generation 9 Free-For-All we are cautiously optimistic that Kyurem-Black will still be fine. Deoxys-Speed will likely be unviable in Free-For-All. I don't see any niche for it to fill. Deoxys-Defense, on the other hand, looks like a very interesting addition to our format. Aside from its phenomenal bulk, it offers a lot of cool options. It's a great hazard setter, a Future Sight/Teleport pivot, and it has a fascinating omniboosting set with Cosmic Power/Meteor Beam/Stored Power/Recover. I look forward to see how it plays out. Palafin never got tested in Free-For-All, and was just banned since it was banned in OU. Since then, it's become clear that strong Water resists are just a necessity on FFA teams and the metagame seems like it could be prepared to handle Palafin. While Urshifu is dancing on the edge of being banworthy and may yet receive that treatment before the generation is out, the council agrees that if Urshifu is a borderline case then Palafin definitely deserves to at least see the light of day in FFA.I'm looking forward to testing these as well as learning about some of the new Pokemon and trying them out in our format. I'd also add that we are aware of Pechurant, but it is currently unreleased. We will address it when it arrives, as it is most certainly broken in Free-For-All.
A quick addendum on the DLC bans for Free-For-All
Tagging Marty and Kris to implement, thank you in advance
Terapagos-Stellar is clearly an uber level threat. While it isn't quite as powerful in Free-For-All as it is in Overused, it's still far above the power level of the rest of the format and deserving of a ban. At this time the Smogon policy decision is that both Terapagos-Terastal and Terapagos-Stellar formes will be tiered together, and we will be following that. However, there is ongoing debate in Policy Review as to whether they should be tiered as separate formes and we will adjust our decision accordingly if the consensus changes.
Free-For-All bans all moves that can heal an opponent's Pokemon or boost their stats. Therefor, Coaching, Decorate, Dragon Cheer, and Floral Healing are all automatically banned. These moves are incredibly unhealthy for the metagame, and are mostly just used by trolls. The handful of gimmick strategies they enable is not worth the harm they do to the enjoyability and fairness of the format.
Terapagos is banned- Coaching is banned
- Decorate is banned
- Dragon Cheer is banned
- Floral Healing is banned
Tagging Marty and Kris to implement, thank you in advance
Terapagos-Stellar is clearly an uber level threat. While it isn't quite as powerful in Free-For-All as it is in Overused, it's still far above the power level of the rest of the format and deserving of a ban. At this time the Smogon policy decision is that both Terapagos-Terastal and Terapagos-Stellar formes will be tiered together, and we will be following that. However, there is ongoing debate in Policy Review as to whether they should be tiered as separate formes and we will adjust our decision accordingly if the consensus changes.
Free-For-All bans all moves that can heal an opponent's Pokemon or boost their stats. Therefor, Coaching, Decorate, Dragon Cheer, and Floral Healing are all automatically banned. These moves are incredibly unhealthy for the metagame, and are mostly just used by trolls. The handful of gimmick strategies they enable is not worth the harm they do to the enjoyability and fairness of the format.
Porygon-Z is finally back, can't wait to completely annihilate anything not ghost typed. tera normal specs adaptability hyper beam seems insane, probably not worth running on most teams since Porygon-z has the defences of a wet paper towel, but being able to remove/heavily chunk basically anything seems like it could be nice if you aren't always getting targeted on the recharge turn. Tri-attack, trick, and dark pulse seem like they could round out a set pretty nicely.
oh the banlist was updated, will miss having those moves as an option but it's 100% understandable, still got up to some stuff while they were legal
(for the record none of this was planned, i just really like regigigas)
(for the record none of this was planned, i just really like regigigas)