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Feels like a lot of gate keeping with ou and ubers. We don't retest ubers because "what does it add to a metagame" having more options could lead to more players and more attention to the tier. Not so much saying darkrai is good or bad but I'm saying the mindset of refusing retests, especially during this gap of the two dlcs, is a bit narrow-minded.
It's not gate-keeping, it is the EXACT question we need to ask, it's not about attention (with regards to mons, mechanics I do kind of get it, obviously i why we've been discussing Tera for so long) it's about the meta, if Darkrai is to be added, there has to be a gap for it to fill, a reason for it to come down aside from "bad mon".
I haven't come across many Ogerpon-H yet (perks of being a low-ladder player ig), but I think the way I've seen it used leads me to think it needs a suspect just to more overall dedicate time and discussion to it.
Manaphy is kind of the same thing, but I think is slightly more egregious because Tail Glow is just a fucking absurd move.
Ninetales is fine, just the facilitator of offense due to snow and AV support.
Ursaluna-B is going the exact same way Ursaluna is going where it's batshit insane right at the start and falls off a cliff immediately after.
Ogerpon-W idk, it's just very good so i'd give it a 2 for now
Gliscor, everyone's already kind of said it, but I'll say it in a nicer way, it's perfectly fine, doesn't need to be looked at really at all
ogerpon-hellfire - 5. all useful discussion on the subject has been exhausted so have a world war 1 propaganda poster instead
manaphy - 5. damn thing is too fat behind veil and too strong in rain, and it's only going to become a worse problem once ogerpon-hopefullybanned gets kicked out
alolan ninetales - 4. either manaphy goes or atales goes, we can't pretend the meta is healthy with them both around. the biggest issue i see with banning alolan ninetales is that there will be people whining about retesting bax, which is still op outside of veil
overton-windowshift - 2. i think she and the other ogerforms besides ogerpon-heartless are very good but definitely dealwithable, but this opinion is definitely subject to change in the future given the current stranglehold that ogerpon-hearthome has on the tier—you can't run both of them at once, and this isn't the one most people would rather keep
ursaluna-bloodmoon - 2. i'm just not getting the hype some people are putting behind this mon. maybe i'm just not encountering people running the right sets?
gliscor - 0. lol. lmao, even. between this and urshifu, i'm becoming convinced that it's council policy to add a joke question to every survey
other things: gambit and valiant. gambit has somehow managed to benefit from the dlc despite not actually gaining anything for itself, and i'm still not convinced that iron valiant doesn't deserve a suspect. both of these deserved to be on the survey more than gliscor did
and for the record, i promise to stop with the silly ogerpon names—all of them—once hotfoot gets banned. for those of you who enjoy the joke, i encourage you to do the same; at this point it's starting to play itself out. for those of you who hate the joke, there's your incentive
(…well, i might sprinkle one or two in from time to time)
Yeah I wrote a big-ass post on Darkrai. Read it if you want. Keep in mind that these are just my thoughts, not directed at any person in particular. Tl;dr i don't think it should come down
I don't think we should unban Darkrai. Its regular set, DP/SB/FB/NP creates a 50/50 in your favor for most of the checks you mentioned. If you pivot into your defense and it uses NP, it gains the ability to 2HKO (or OHKO) those checks, while the best they can do is hit it with an attacking move for less than half and die.
For ease of reading, I've listed LO Darkrai calcs in red and defensive attacks back in green.
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Assault Vest Toxapex: 172-203 (56.7 - 66.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO 252+ SpA Toxapex Sludge Bomb vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Darkrai: 102-120 (36.1 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 244 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: 302-356 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO 0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 112-133 (39.7 - 47.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 4 HP / 252+ SpD Blissey: 408-481 (62.5 - 73.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
a little bit of an exception because it can run Twave but not only is that not the recommended set, you still have to sack your Blissey. +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Unaware Dondozo: 247-292 (49 - 57.9%) -- 59% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery 252+ Def Dondozo Body Press vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 192-228 (68 - 80.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Fezandipiti: 161-191 (42.3 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO 0 SpA Fezandipiti Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Darkrai: 168-200 (59.5 - 70.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Has to be at absolutely full health and run full spdef. Also this could be irrelevant, but I do not believe that it will be OU much longer. +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 248+ SpD Moltres: 281-331 (73.3 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
can pivot out, but only once. Pdef literally just dies lol. +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 576-678 (132.7 - 156.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Garganacl: 541-637 (133.9 - 157.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tera Fairy Garganacl: 406-478 (100.4 - 118.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO 4 Def Garganacl Body Press vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 158-188 (56 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Gets one free turn with surprise Tera, does 60%, and then dies +2 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 244 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: 302-356 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO 0 Atk Gliscor Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Darkrai: 112-133 (39.7 - 47.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
if it runs u-turn, which it is already strapped for slots for, it can pivot out exactly once. 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Kommo-o: 83-99 (23.4 - 27.9%) -- 84% chance to 4HKO
perhaps the only consistent counter to this set... is what I would say if Tera was not a thing to be able set up in its face (fairy, poison). Darkrai can also just run coverage for it; Ice Beam and Psyshock are still useful outside of Kommo-o. Still forces a tera use or suboptimal set, which is good.
It's worth noting that Darkrai is not running any specific coverage for this, though it certainly has the option to. You constantly have to gamble that Darkrai isn't running the specific coverage that makes your ability to play around it even less, like Psyshock for Clod, Ice Beam for Gliscor, Thunder for Tera'd Ogerpon, Hypnosis for generally free setup, Substitute/Taunt for those things attempting to status it, etc.
If you pivot into your offense, better hope you pivot into something that's faster than it AND it doesn't have/choose the coverage move that kills you
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Valiant: 395-465 (136.6 - 160.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kingambit: 801-946 (234.8 - 277.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Worth noting that sucker Punch is only a 3HKO and Iron Head isn't even a guaranteed OHKO at 5 allies fainted 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. +1 0 HP / 0 SpD Tera Water Ogerpon-Wellspring-Tera: 121-144 (40.1 - 47.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Needs to be tera'd beforehand, come in completely healthy, and have hazards completely off the field. 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zamazenta: 155-183 (47.6 - 56.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
can force it out once, also doesn't appreciate Sludge Bomb poison chance 252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 199-235 (47.3 - 55.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: 250-294 (58.1 - 68.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It's also worth noting how few pokemon there are that actually outspeed it on offense. The (common) list consists of Booster Valiant, (jolly) Zamazenta, (timid) Dragapult, and maaaybe some more niche choice scarf users like Enam, Gren, or Ghold. Both Valiant and Zamazenta lose their advantage upon switching out, while Dragapult has to be running Choice Specs (which is admittedly the most common set) AND use Draco Meteor, which is highly exploitable.
I would like to emphasize that all of this results from giving it ONE FREE TURN. ONE. This can be done through slow pivots, coming in after a revenge kill, bluffing a choice item or the appropriate (which is incredibly easy to do with Darkrai's movepool), or, most commonly, Tera.
I haven't even talked about its Tera capabilities yet. Surprise Tera gives it a lot of setup opportunities by giving it a better defensive typing. Booster Valiant is simply fodder for Tera Poison, Dragapult and Zama lose to Tera Fairy, Scarf Ghold and Enam can be surprised by it to allow it to KO them, even Tera Flying as it is checked by Tusk and allows it to use Gliscor as complete setup fodder.
You'll notice all the calcs above are of Life Orb Darkrai, which I believe to be its best set as it gives higher immediate power which allows it to perform the feats above. One could make an argument that Life Orb and hazards, as well as neutral attacks from defensive pokemon, would be enough to keep Darkrai in check, or at least limit it to trading with you. But the thing is, Darkrai is still threatening even at 14% because of its amazing speed tier and fantastic coverage; It still forces those mindgames of "do I switch out and risk Darkrai setting up or do I stay in and risk dying to it?" This is also why Darkrai's supposedly poor bulk is a bad argument: it's not supposed to be taking (neutral) attacks from offensive pokemon. It's meant to either take no damage setting up or little damage from defensive attacks or resisted attacks with Tera.
And even if you think that Darkrai won't be overbearing, that it'll be balanced for the tier, seriously consider the ramifications of unbanning it. What does it add to the tier, besides making it even more offensive? We'd waste a lot of time when I think there are a lot of elements of the tier that need looking into first, like Ogerpon, Gholdengo, or Manaphy. We only have a limited amount of time until the "permanent" DLC drops. I'd like to get the tier as balanced as possible before that massive shakeup.
Ogerpon-H: 4. I think she's absolutely brutal and I'm still figuring out counterplay. I'd support a suspect for sure.
Manaphy: 2. I've not found it too bad as I use OgerW a lot, which is a hard counter. I think it's balanced, as you either put a timer on it through status if it's using Tail Glow, or can wall it and break through if it's using Take Heart.
Alolatales: 1.5. Won't elaborate as I'm not good enough to.
Ogerpon-W: 2. Possibly more dangerous, but as others have mentioned, the stranglehold her Firey sister has on the meta makes it very hard to objectively judge.
Ursa-Bloodmoon: I legitimately have never encountered one. I'm not sure why. I gave it either a 2 or 3 for that reason.
Gliscor: 1. I love this guy. He's phenomenal in the current meta but I don't think broken. I get why it's been considered though
Darkrai: mentioning separately to say Please Don't Drop This For The Love Of God
Anything else: every time I'll say it: ban the terror that is Spidops already. I'd argue Spidops is better than ever now it has Knock Off and Stakeout First Impression hits hard as hell and can also merk the hypothetical Darkrai
I really think the survey should have included Kingambit just so if it got a high score it could possibly be QB'd since it narrowly dodged the suspect ban it deserves. Maybe throw Valiant in there as well for good measure.
how about the first three letters of each mask and -pon as a suffix?
heapon
welpon
corpon
teapon
my one hesitation with this is that "heapon" is pretty close to "heatran" if you skim through a post, but whatever, neither of them will be ou next month
Similar to valiant and magearna it's not one set in particular so much as the number of different sets it can run very effectively. That said bulky swords dance is probably the best, thing gets 3HKOd by weaknesses which allows it to get up a swords dance and sweep very easily. It's a decent spiker but it's now the best stealth rock and Tspikes user in the tier because of the bulk + versatility in its other move slots. At worst it's a bulkier, better typed, and more destructive Tusk that can't remove hazards (or to be more accurate to tusk in practice, can't SOMETIMES remove hazards) and laughs at knock off. Another comparison is "a bulkier Lando that that heals better, absorbs knock better, has more hazard and utility options, but no intimidate" or "Ting-Lu with better recovery and hazards and doesn't fear Knock"
That bulk and longevity with Toxic is also very potent. All in all I'm unsure about Broken at this time but Gliscor has rapidly become by far the best utility Pokémon in the tier with a ton of offensive potential as well. It's really dangerous, has already become a very important Pokémon, and has potential to be even more centralizing.
Idk why this has to be drilled into everyone’s head every single survey, but I include anything supported by any council member to be included. It’s best to be inclusive rather than exclusive. If they wish to elaborate, they very much can and I hope will, but worst case it doesn’t get support and even that’s still valuable data to prove we can focus elsewhere.
It’s annoying when I work hard on these surveys and instead of productive discussion the kneejerk reaction is this.
If I ever get onto the OU council I'm forcing a tiering survey to ask if Furret is too good for OU. It needs a win dagnabbit.
In all seriousness it could be helpful to include a placebo option on surveys; the record for most demanded ban has been broken several times this generation, so it could be that people are just more likely to rate stuff higher now than they were previously.
Idk why this has to be drilled into everyone’s head every single survey, but I include anything supported by any council member to be included. It’s best to be inclusive rather than exclusive. If they wish to elaborate, they very much can and I hope will, but worst case it doesn’t get support and even that’s still valuable data to prove we can focus elsewhere.
It’s annoying when I work hard on these surveys and instead of productive discussion the kneejerk reaction is this.
Can whichever council members who supported Gliscor's inclusion on the survey perhaps post reasoning as to why they thought it should be included? Seeing Pokemon like Gliscor (and also Ogerpon-W) show up on the survey with relatively little community disucssion show up on the survey is a bit jarring. I'm not saying it's wrong that they show up - there's no harm in asking and more discussion is better. I think shock would be lessened if a brief post could accompany these "out there" survey inclusions.
I don't have any input on the survey answers themselves. Ogerpon-H is stupid, Manaphy is overhyped, Ursaluna-BM is worrying but I don't think there. I wish more people would talk about how stupid Iron Valiant is, I'm honestly I little surprised we don't bring up how crazy that Pokemon is. It's speed, power, and versatility and completely unmatched.
I would like to second the curiousity request regarding Ogerpon-W and Gliscor, if only because they have had so little discussion compared to other stuff (Hearth and Stone had a lot of buzz, and Teal at least came up for niche or outclassed talk) that I genuinely don't know what is on the member(s) mind to watch on them, figuring it might be a "yeah that makes sense" once I do have something that hasn't come up in conversation thus far.
Hello, just wanna tell yall that the GOAT has returned and he should be FEARED by all
MEGAGODZILLA (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Brave Nature
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick
This set is very similar to the av hoopa set that became pretty popular at one point. Basically its slow but it will usually live a hit and hit back hard. Some may ask what this has over hoopa since its slower and its got a worse typing, but worry not because this guy is not fucking around. First of all ur using TTAR and not lame ass hoopa so ur opponents will be intimidated by the sheer presence of this BEAST. Secondly ttar is much bulkier with this set than hoopa so when ur not getting with a cc it takes hits even better than hoopa which was already infamously tough to 1 hit kill. The sand by itself is also very epic rn, as u goob all of the veil, rain and sun teams running around with it. The coverage on this guy is also extremely epic, hits pretty much everything except fighting types. However, even the viable fightings do not want to get hit with KNOCK OFF, which is an epic tool that TTAR got in the dlc. With this weapon, ttar can no longer get completely abused by shit like tusk, as if tusk gets its leftovers knocked, it opens up the door for ur other mons to get off the GOOB. In conclusion: the GOAT is back, and its only a matter of time before he rises back to where he BELONGS!!!
Wasn't sure if I should file up on the survey after just a day of play (granted, multiple hours) after a long hiatus, but I think I've seen enough to throw my 5 cents, and so I did.
Ogerpon-H: 5
Honestly, I don't think this mon would be so broken if it wasn't capable of switching "freely" (costs to use Tera, but not a turn/action) between normal/Mold Breaker and Tera/+1 Atk x1.33 STAB. Either of its normal and Tera forms would be fine, but they demand different forms of defensive counterplay with only offensive counterplay being relatively reliable for both. And even that crumbles partially at +1 Spd and almost totally at +2. A complex ban to only ban it from Tera or force it to be Tera from the beginning or something like that would probably fix it, but that's can of worms we're obviously not opening, so easier to just ban the whole thing and get it done with.
Manaphy: 2 (2.5)
I can understand why people are scared of this thing since Tail Glow is just silly, but 100 Base SpA and a limited movepool leaves it incapable of doing much of anything against bulkier opponents before setting up, can't break past our Unaware mons and can't even OHKO many offensive mons with neutral STAB or SE coverage. It's can't run much bulk without further hurting its base damage, and 100 Base Spd was great in the past, but is just the new 80 Base Speed nowadays: faster than slow mons, slower than fast mons.
The 0.5 is because Ogerpon warps the meta around it, specially in offensive teams, making Manaphy Tera experimentation insufficient, and I fear there may be some annoying gold in that mine waiting to be found. But I don't expect Manaphy to stay relevant in surveys for long, personally.
Ninetales-A: 4
Screens have been a problem for a long time now, OU isn't the first nor only tier to consider Light Clay a potential suspect target (other tiers have already banned it, in fact), and an offensive centered meta only makes this increasingly worse. What's EVEN worse, is that the power creep this generation offers is probably the tendency will continue to see in the future, including any new additions for DLC2.
I do believe that Ninetales-A's position as the best screener in the meta, with the ability to place effectively both screens in one action with no further preparation and from a natural Base Spd of 109, is enough to guarantee some action. Even if we got to ban her, though, maybe we'll then realize she was just a ritualistic sacrifice to protect Screens as we learn that we still need to ban Light Clay with things like Screens Dragapult (for Brick Break immunity) or good ol' Screens Grimmsnarl (priority good), but I think something needs to be done about Screens as we are and Ninetales-A may just be enough.
Ursaluna-BM: 2
I can see this thing hitting hard, I can see it taking hits, but I still can't bring myself to be scared of it. 4MSS hits it very hard, being very underwhelming with just coverage (and it doesn't really get many good moves, anyway) but failing to hit important targets with CM+Moonlight instead. It just felt very underwhelming how it creeps out a threat than fails to deliver. Many mons that check special attackers and/or can take a Blood Moon are weak to Ground (Clodsire, Heatran, Gholdengo, Slowking-G, Toxapex, Fezandipiti, Kingambit [AV+Low Kick+20 Spd EV can still win the 1v1 assuming 0 Spd on Ursa and effectively trade against anything other than Earth Power on the switch + Vaccum Wave], which may be why people struggle against it, but Specially Defensive Clefable, Zapdos and Moltres fair much better, Corviknight outright counters (hand-picked Teras aside) and any of the above with an Air Balloon or Tera Flying can also handle Ursa.
It feels like it's scary for a combination of stats and a meta rich in Poison and Steel defensive mons, but very vulnerable to meta adaptations and I feel it will suffer the same fate as its original counterpart. That said, something like Tera Elec Tera Blast can flip most of the above considerations while lowering Ursa's weakness to just 1 and more than enough bulk to take a couple of neutral attacks while countering very hard, so again, Tera investigation pending.
Ogerpon-W: 2 (1.5)
Honestly, I think this is just a pretty good mon. I think I rounded it up to a 2 on the survey just because of how strong and prevalent Ogerpon has been on the ladder recently, but the more I think about it, the more I think she's just a perfectly fair and fine mon. Strong, sure, but with offensive and defensive counterplay and no ridiculous sudden outbursts of power or match-up flips for no reason. Specially considering she can't Tera freely: you know exacly what her Tera type is. Which makes me more supporting of showing Tera on Team Preview, but let's wait for the right timing to revive that topic.
Gliscor: 3
Ok, I'm gonna be honest here, I just hate free healing. I think Poison Heal and Regenerator are just broken and while I accept the status quo stating they're "part of the game" now, I will always give them a 3+ score whenever surveyed cause I find it cheesy and broken all on its own. Can't hate it on Breloom cause that thing has paper bulk, but on Gliscor? Not holding back.
So, take this one as my own personal bias. But ban Regenerator.
____
As for things that weren't on the survey, I mentioned Dire Claw as being inherently uncompetitive and deserving a ban. I don't think Sneasler itself is broken nor deserves a ban, but Dire Claw gets on Swagger/Evasion moves levels of luck gain and I don't think it belongs in our game; it's luck-based nature should be enough to deserve an exception to the whole "we ban mons, not moves" law.
I also think Gholdengo's influence in the meta is very negative even if the critter itself isn't broken and the game would thrive from its ban. Forgot to put it on the survey at the moment though, so I'll mention it here.
Ogerpon-Fire is 4 for me. Others say it's mid but I struggle fighting it. It's too strong & fast, requires tera fire to beat on some mons or tera dragon.
Gliscor is 4 as well. This mon is BS, worsens the already big hazard issue by winning the long game vs Tusk, and forces annoying dittos. More OP than Ting-Lu imo.
Ursa-BM is 4 for me, scrappy makes it extremely difficult to switch into and it's bulk is ridiculous, living sneasler cc at full. Might need some time to think about it though.
Rest of mons I voted 3, except wellspring ogerpon which I voted 1 on, as I believe that mon to be a positive addition to tier.
Fun: Personally I’m finding all this chaos fun, so 7 for me
Balance: It’s still chaos though, so I’m giving it a 3 for actually trying to have a balanced meta.
Firepon/Ogerpon-Hearthflame: 5, this thing is absolutely ridiculous rn. Just give it one turn to set up a Swords Dance and it steamrolls the tier.
Waterpon/Ogerpon-Wellspring: 3, it is still really strong, but has a less potent offensive STAB than Firepon and the lack of Mold Breaker allows Dondozo to actually check it in some capacity. Thing is that the Water/Grass typing and ability Water Absorb is much more defensively reliable than Fire/Grass and allows it to use utility such as Encore and Synthesis more potently to still blank and kill Dondozo. It could be suspect worthy, but it seems at least bearable to deal with right now.
Manaphy: 3, would be lower without screens support from Ninetales. Definitely suspect worthy if screens stay around and Firepon leaves, but if Light Clay is banned and screens falls off then I don’t really see it being too overwhelming to handle.
Ninetales-Alola: 3, but mainly because screens within themselves are really strong and the Hail Defense boost makes it even more reliable of a Screens/Aurora Veil setter than it already was.
Blood Moon Ursaluna: 1 or 2, it’s a pretty good special tank, but it can be overwhelmed fairly well because of its low speed and special bulk.
Gliscor: I get that being a better version of Gen 8 Lando but with Poison Heal and Tera can be annoying, but be honest who actually thinks it’s even suspect worthy rn? 0.
Anything else: Didn’t put anything in my original survey entry, but just wanted to remind everyone that Kingambit and its Tera-Fairy reverse sweeps are still just as bullshit and re-suspect-worthy as they were before.
Ogerpon-BuffaloSauce: 3 - Mainly cause I can't pick 2.5 since I'm very split on it.
Manaphy: 2
IceTales: 2 - Ninetale itself is a 1 but IMO veil is whats worth discussing instead.
Ursa-BM: 2
Ogerpon-theotherone: 2
Gliscor: 1 - interesting addition but its just that, a survey addition, definitely not on my mind as a problem though.
Mention: Volcarona; definitely deserves a suspect test and there's reasonable debate from both sides to be in OU. Certainly more than Darkrai but I think everyone is just sick of volc for years while they haven't seen a darkrai since... ever so they want to try it despite doing the same thing but with maybe only 1 tera type requirement. I wouldn't mind a Darkrai test but between volc and tera the tier still feels like it can't move on without laying the verdict of those two to rest.
Hello, just wanna tell yall that the GOAT has returned and he should be FEARED by all View attachment 553848
MEGAGODZILLA (Tyranitar) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA
Brave Nature
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Ice Beam
- Low Kick
This set is very similar to the av hoopa set that became pretty popular at one point. Basically its slow but it will usually live a hit and hit back hard. Some may ask what this has over hoopa since its slower and its got a worse typing, but worry not because this guy is not fucking around. First of all ur using TTAR and not lame ass hoopa so ur opponents will be intimidated by the sheer presence of this BEAST. Secondly ttar is much bulkier with this set than hoopa so when ur not getting with a cc it takes hits even better than hoopa which was already infamously tough to 1 hit kill. The sand by itself is also very epic rn, as u goob all of the veil, rain and sun teams running around with it. The coverage on this guy is also extremely epic, hits pretty much everything except fighting types. However, even the viable fightings do not want to get hit with KNOCK OFF, which is an epic tool that TTAR got in the dlc. With this weapon, ttar can no longer get completely abused by shit like tusk, as if tusk gets its leftovers knocked, it opens up the door for ur other mons to get off the GOOB. In conclusion: the GOAT is back, and its only a matter of time before he rises back to where he BELONGS!!!
I am running the exact same set except with HDB and 168 speed EVs w/ adamant nature. You want 168 Speed EVs to get the jump on Gambit and KO it with Low kick b4 it can do anything.
I think Ursaluna Bloodmoon is probably the biggest problem in the tier of the new Pokemon when it comes to balance because I feel like it just absolutely murders Balance while still maintaining good trades with Offense or a fine match-up with Stall, making it a bit too consistent with its trades.
Like, the way it murders Balance is just incredible. Blood Moon taking a turn between attacks is cute because it can just Calm Mind or heal up, or Vacuum Wave if they live, or just an extremely strong Earth Power. Its base Special Bulk isn't very good, but as a slower Pokemon the gained Calm Mind bulk gives it a lot more synergy than other Calm Mind sweepers.
It feels very easy to pilot Ursa-BM to gain 2+ kills consistently, and very hard to play around it. You can't outstall it or just heal spam over it like Ursaluna because instead of it taking 6.25% each turn, it's gaining 6.25%. Knock Off sure, but that probably just means you get blasted.
The most consistent way I've seen is to Toxic it with Gliscor and Protect + pivot spam, but even then it realistically gets 1 kill at minimum, likely 2. And I think a Pokemon that very consistently gets 2 kills a game is exactly the type that is a bit too much.
We'll see though, I'd probably expect a Suspect of it rather than a quickban. I think that pokemon like Gholdengo and Kingambit are still bigger problems and absolutely should have been on the survey. Gholdengo effects the balance of the entire tier since it shapes the hazard metagame so completely.
fun fact about gliscor: just let it stall you for a couple turns, then switch in neutralizing gas geezing (make sure it's not doing an eq though) and watch gliscor's health bar disappear. the toxic counter still goes up even if it's not taking damage from it. geezing actually does have a lot of applications right now—aside from being able to turn poison heal into poison hurt, it can defog even if gholdengo is switching in, lead against atales so it can't even get hail up (also works decently against other weather teams), click toxic against garganacl, completely neuter azumarill (not worth much but still funny), and if you predict a clefable switch-in, you can switch geezing in to make sure it takes hazard damage
