luckie
unluckiest player
Very fair concern. Not doing well into the #1 isn't very appealing lmao
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Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion
- Thread starter TPP
- Start date
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I made 4 Boxes to analyze each Pokemon and here are all the Pokepastes. Made this before the Tier List thing came up.
https://pokepast.es/ec3365b4b7b4eb41
https://pokepast.es/21cfca3883139b46
https://pokepast.es/ceac9da2fc16cbb0
https://pokepast.es/5f3e3ee105e8640d
Tier: OU
Explanation: I think people are really sleeping on this thing because of its typing. Its actually pretty comparable to Marowak-Alola is power due to Head Smash's giant BP, which surpasses Shadow Bone.
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Armarouge: 440-518 (141.4 - 166.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Arcanine-Hisui Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Armarouge: 492-582 (158.1 - 187.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Factor in the fact that Arcanine isn't restricted to holding a specific item to be useful, is way faster, and has 2nd Strongest Extreme Speed outside of Ubers, which with Tera Normal bypasses the major weaknesses of Arcanine-H, makes it a strong contender for OU
Tier: Ubers, Legend Plate AG
Explanation: Regular Arceus is a no brainer for Ubers, and most of the cover mascots tier Pokemon will be glossed over because, well duh. Arceus is special because from PLA you have the new Legend Plate Arceus. This plate essentially ensures Arceus/Judgement has a type advantage against the thing in front of it, which frankly is the most absurdly broken thing in all of Pokemon. 1 move, and Arceus has perfect coverage. It can just use Judgement and focus on other utility moves in your moveset, and now you're nearly impossible to deal with unless you're incredibly bulky specially (which eventually is beaten out by calm mind) or manipulate its typing so a revenge killer like Koraidon can KO it.
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: No surprises here. Articuno is a shitmon. Even with Tera solving its bad typing, there isn't much reason to use it.
Tier: PUBL/NU
Explanation: Better than original Articuno, but not so much as to make massive waves in higher tiers. It's better regularly and better abuses Tera as Tera Blast gives it a way to beat Steel types that isn't Stored Power after 20 turns of set up.
Tier: RU/RUBL
Explanation: Normally this version of Avalugg would be worse, but in Gen 9 only, I'd say its better. And yeah, it's Tera. It trades in some Special bulk to be faster and hit harder. Its much better offensively and also packs pretty much everything regular Avalugg has and wants like Stealth Rock.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Azelf seems like the most buffed of the Lake Trio, but only because Mystic Favors it the most. Its also a decent hazard setter, but outclassed by Mew in that regard. It also can give itself STABs with Tera, block rapid spin, or let it survive in a pinch with a type change.
Tier: RU, Last Respects Ubers (don't listen to the OU Room on Showdown saying Basculegion will be the one banned and not LR. It would be embarrassing for Smogon to do that)
Explanation: Without Last Respects, Male Basculegion is really outclassed honestly. Its comparable to Crawdaunt, except that it has a much worse movepool. Your options for physical ghost STAB are LR, Phantom Force, and Tera Blast Ghost. That's pretty detrimental for Basculegion's viability as now it has to Tera for good secondary STAB outside of Ubers. Between those options you have Psychic Fang, Head Smash with recoil, Crunch, Ice Fang, and Double-Edge. Pretty poor choice outside of spamming Wave Crashes. Also no Sword Dance or Dragon Dance too. Still RU because Crawdaunt isn't in the game and would likely be UU or even OU if it was.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Much better movepool than its male counterpart. Female version at least has usable Ghost moves to use besides the banworthy move. It has less type coverage, but Ice Beam is always great and is more impressive given Basculegion's type.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: This thing is the strongest Tinted Lens user in the game, both in fire power and BST (at least legal currently). And unlike other Tinted Lens users, this thing also has Sheer Force (effectively stronger than Lando-I with Hurricane btw). Its actually insane that you can choose between being not walled by type resistances or not walled by pure bulk. Additionally Esper Wing for Tinted Lens is incredibly good, having the best of both good STAB and Trailblaze speed boosts. You then have Calm Mind and Agility to let it sweep pretty easily.
Problem. It's slow and frail and relies heavily on free turns to get going and even after +1 is still outsped by Meowscarada naturally, among many many potential scarfers. It is however better in UU and probably too good.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: AG
Explanation: Being one of the best Pokemon in Ubers last Gen, no thanks to Arceus-Dark's absence, Calyrex-S's main flaw was Dark types of course. No doubt that with there only being Arceus-Dark and some lesser dark types, and more importantly getting Fighting coverage while resisting Sucker Punch, Calyrex-S will join the AG club. Honestly still not as broken as Legend Plate Arcues imo.
Tier: Untiered/PU
You set up Stealth Rock and Spikes with a build in Focus Sash and that's about it. PU even has 2 Spikes/Rock setters already, and even Sudowoodo does too, which is untiered, but Carbink is better than Sudowoodo at that, which isn't saying much,
Tier: UU
Explanation: Chesnaught was UU last time it was usable and it only got more buffs to keep up with UU Powercreep. Not only as utility, but with set up as well thanks to Body Press for Bulk Up, and Trailblaze for both Belly Drum, Sword Dance, and Bulk Up.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Cresselia will find a niche in every tier, like most Pokemon do, but will most likely end up in RUBL. It has cool new toy in Less PP Jungle Healing, which helps Calm Mind sets, along with Tera, but otherwise is not that impressive. Its still very weak without several boosts, and while bulky can be worn down before it does damage. Otherwise it's basic support Pokemon for HO teams that can bring a Pokemon back in the game with Lunar Dance.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: I think overall Decidueye is outclassed by Chesnaught a little as a Grass/Fighting type. It has its own good qualities, like Triple Arrow being a great Fighting move, Scrappy, and has Defog + Knock Off, but Chesnaught is also way bulkier and has more options. UU is also not lacking in hazard removal options too, even regular Decidueye having Defog too.
Tier: RU
Explanation: Delphox has improved since Gen 7, but likely won't be UU due to Armarouge being there too and is mostly better. Can't go wrong with Arm Cannon, Expanding Force, and Weak Armor. Only time you'll see it in OU is on a Youtuber's "DELPHOX DESTROYS OU" video where they use Copycat Shell Smash strategy with Eject Pack Torkoal, but using Magician, and even then you could use Meowscarade for that too.
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Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: RU
Explanation: Diancie was NU last Gen and now it can shed its awful typing while being offensively threatening too. Definitely RU.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Probably the best of the "Ugtrio trio" outside of Arena Trap, thanks to Steel typing giving it tons of resistances to tank as hit in PU. It now has Sword Dance too, but that probably won't bring it to NU tier since regular Dugtrio has it too.
Tier: NU
Explanation: Grass compliments Electrode extremely well offensively thanks to hitting the ground types that wall it, but unfortunately has 80 SpA as its highest offensive. You're also still walled by Grass and Dragon types, which isn't too bad since you have Leech Seed, Volt Switch, and Tera too. Definitely a lot better than regular Electrode.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: I don't know why people have any doubts about Enamorus staying in OU. Serperior was a super star in OU solely because of Contrary and that thing would be an NU/PU shitmon otherwise. Enamorus-I regularly would be around UU and OU powerlevels, and it gets Contrary + Superpower. If Revenge killing was an issue for it, then you can just simply run Tailwind, which you then need to plan around as it whales on you with increasingly strong Superpowers. You don't even have to use Contrary either. You can use regular set up which you'll need to account for as well. It's simply way to strong with an S tier ability.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: It's the weaker of the 2 Enamorus forms, but still is pretty solid. It trades off most of its speed for much better bulk, and bulk it uses well thanks to being Fairy/Flying type. Its a great answer to Great Tusk and tons of other top tiers. It has excellent special options as well to be pretty threatening. Sadly it's so slow that even Kingambit outspeeds it (you know, one of the best offensive Steels in the game), and lacks recovery.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
/ 
Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: NU
Explanation: Glastrier is greatly improved thanks to Tera and new Trailblaze, which it can realistically spam with its bulk combined with Tera type, but that doesn't make it that much better. +1 only outspeeds base 69 (nice), and +2 you speed tier Walking Wake. But by that time you'd be dead or heavily chipped to be killed by strong priority. Like Cetitan is RU and that thing has basically the same bulk, but also Belly Drum, Slush Rush, Earthquake, Sheer Force, and you already outspeed +1 Glastrier as well.
Tier: RU
Explanation: Hoodra has a much better typing than its Kalos counterpart and better bulk, but that's just about it. Honestly I don't see why many people are rating this thing so highly as to say its OU material, when there are better special walls with good recovery and who are just about as threatening too.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: OU
Explanation: Do I need to explain this one too? Heatran is an OU staple and greatly benefits from Tera as well.
Tier: UU
Explanation: I think people underrate Hoopa-C this gen despite being massively buffed both directly and indirectly. A lack of pursuit is fantastic for Hoopa as now it's no longer food for the average Dark type. And you know how Calyrex-S will be AG thanks to Tera? Well Hoopa benefits a lot from Tera too. It can now Tera Fighting to give its Focus Blast STAB while also being able to tank Dark type attacks very easily, and special Ghost attacks too. Or you can Tera to something else like Electric to resist Bullet Punch, Dark to resist both Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak, Ghost to amp up your Ghost STAB to absurd levels, Fairy for utility sets or if you want Tera Fairy STAB, ect. You really can't go wrong.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: Well now, Hoopa-Unbound is a whole new story. Being Hoopa-Confined but most part better. You have better Speed, SpA, and Slaking tier Atk. Previously the drawback of Hoopa-Unbound was that its typing sucked shit. Having 0 resistances and a nasty weakness to Bug too. Additionally it was still Pursuit weak due to its frailer physical side + the drop you get from Hyperspace Fury. However, Tera allows Hoopa-U to actually resist things, which is frankly massive. In addition, it can be far more customizable with Tera now that its working with both Special and Physicals moves. You couldn't wall this thing before and need to beat it with offensive pressure, now while still physically frail, you are able to actually tank hits. Even physical threats like Great Tusk go from easily OHKOing it most of the time to not having a guaranteed 2HKO on Hoopa-U.
252 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Flying Hoopa-Unbound: 148-174 (49.1 - 57.8%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO (it's 97.7% but it's also Great Tusk vs fucking Hoopa too). Like I showed earlier, you can even nearly OHKO Great Tusk with a fucking Dark Pulse after Tera Dark. You think Kingambit's dark spam is bad? Hoopa is a KOing machine even with just Scarf. It can spam you with Knock Off, Hyperspace Fury, and Dark Pulse, while removing resists with Psychic, Fighting, and Poison coverage. It may not have Sucker Punch, but it does have better Speed that's enough to make it faster than Dragapult after a Choice Scarf and more than enough speed to crush bulkier teams.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Kleavor is the alternate evolution of Scyther introduced in PLA and shares a similar stat distribution to Scizor. It gains more Speed and Atk from some bulk and not used SpA. Additionally it gets much improved Sharpness ability that is generally an upgrade from Technician, trades in Steel for Rock making it have a better offensive STAB at the cost of lots of resistances, and most importantly has Stone Axe. Attacking version of Stealth Rock. Stone Axe will make Kleavor OU be default as its a great hazard setting tool. It pressures majority of things that want to remove hazards because they have to decide to either attack you or to Defog/Rapid Spin. However, there is another better hazard setter with a similar move we'll talk about later, and additionally the best Hazard remover in the tier has extremely Trolly speed tier, being Great Tusk at 87. That 87 Tier is gonna troll a lot more Pokemon than you think. Great Tusk is also a Great Wall for Kleavor who doesn't have any real options to beat it besides Aerial Ace. Without Tera Flying or Bug, Great Tusk cleanly 2HKOs you too.
But still, Attacking Stealth Rock is no joke.
Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: Uber
Explanation: Despite the movepool nerfs, its still definitely Ubers. The movepool nerfs fair it better than its Lion counterpart.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Despite the movepool nerfs, competition with Great Tusk, and the harsher landscape, Landorus-T is still one of the bests of all time. You can never go wrong with a Fighting, Ground, and Electric resist for any team, and combo of Earthquake, U-turn, Stealth Rock, and some 4th move is going to always be good for Landorus-T. It's just that the 4th move isn't Toxic, Knock Off, HP Ice, or Defog. It has plenty of options still, including psuedo Hidden Power in Tera Blast, which works off its stronger Atk stat too (though ironically less ideal for Lando wars). You still have fantastic options like Taunt, Smack Down, Grass Knot, and maybe some other out of the box option. Additionally, its offensive sets are only better since it now gets Physical Flying STAB that isn't Fly with Tera Blast Flying. Giving it that coveted Ground/Flying coverage only walled by specific Pokemon.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: Lilligant-H has the new move Victory Dance, which is a physical version of Quiver Dance, which also means Lilligant-H semi-protects itself from priority, which is huge. But that's about it. It's also arguably the best user of Solar Blade and a fast Sleep Powder. But that's just about it. Hustle makes its physical moves Strong, but completely unreliable and with no way to boost accuracy without Wide Lens, which just makes them 88% accurate for moves that should be 100% accurate. Without Hustle, it doesn't do as much damage as it should for how frail it is. It can hit Flying types with Ice Spinner, but gets easily walled by Poison types not named Toxapex or Clodsire. Your competition is also Breloom, Volcarona, and Dragonite. One having Spore and priority, one having great fire power even before a boost, and one that has great fire power + priority + is incredibly bulky. However definitely too strong for UU, so in UUBL hell it goes.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: Get this thing out of my face. It was already broken in Gen 8 after getting Stored Power. Now it still has SP and has Tera Blast too.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Honestly I just put it in RUBL because it was in RU in previous gens and now has Tera for defensive and offensive purposes.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Only reason why its not Untiered is because its new signature move and being really good with Tera (in PU context).
Tier: OU
Explanation: Even though Mew's only recovery now it Life Dew and drain moves, I still think it'll do extremely well in OU. You know how everyone wanted Mega Mew with Protean? Well it can sort of do that with Tera. It has a massive offensive and utility movepool. I mean really, people think Lilligant-H is OU material because of Victory Dance despite its massive flaws, while Mew still has Dragon Dance while having all the coverage and only 5 less Atk (yeah it gets Hustle, but Hustle sucks tbh). Oh and better defensive type. You also have hazard setting Mew, which has the benefit of being a great answer to Great Tusk as its faster and has STAB Psychic.
Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: UU
Explanation: Was UU last gen and I don't see a reason why it would be UU again this Gen. Not like Heavy Duty Boots isn't in the game.
Tier: UU/UUBL
Explanation: Like before, Moltres-G was UU last Gen and eventually banned. And nothing changed, besides Tinkaton existing, which may cause Moltres-G to use Tera Blast Ground/Fire, and that's about it.
Tier: UU/OU
Explanation: Muk-A is a great special wall, staving off many special attackers thanks to only being weak to Ground, being very bulky, and hitting back decently. I can't decide if it should be OU or UU tbh. There are lots of factors to consider, especially now that it has Tera to work with. Also last we saw it was in Gen 7 where unknockable items were common and Knock Off was everywhere. So it can definitely get bigger role in OU.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Poison/Dark is a great typing, but honestly better suited for specially bulky Pokemon. Overqwil has many things over Muk-A like T/Spikes, Barb Barrage, and Intimidate/Swift Swim, but lacks things like Knock Off, which alone is huge. Biggest thing is the Gholdego match-up, which Overqwil is less fortunate than Muk in, as well as Iron Valiant, Kingambit, Dragapult, and Hatterene. It's also another example of Great Tusk's trolly speed tier as Overqwil is just slower than Great Tusk. So it has too many issue in OU to be more than niche, but would be great in UU.
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Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: It was Untiered last gen and all it got was Tera Blast Fighting, but even in PU you wouldn't want to use your Tera on this thing lets be honest, even if you get perfect coverage.
Tier: PUBL
Explanation: Was there last Gen and Home doesn't have Tapu Koko, so it's not Raichu's time to shine yet.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: RU/RUBL
Explanation: It was RU last gen, but with some good and bad changes. Firstly is Tera Blast is great for it. It can properly fight Fairy types with Tera Poison. It also now has Earthquake, Earth power, and Tera Blast Fire for Steels that also hit Fairy neutrally. However, Regidrago did lose a great tool in Scale Shot, which would be a great option this gen with Loaded Dice.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: You know, apologies to Regieleki before. I thought Tera [coverage for ground] wouldn't be that strong, but I was wrong as evident by it being banned in National Dex. Yes, the metagame if NatDex is different from SV OU, but that difference is that it keeps the powercreep from previous gens. So if super OU can't handle it with Tera, I doubt regular OU can.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Honestly have no clue why some people think Rillaboom is suddenly bad now. Like hello, Grassy Surge? Yeah it doesn't have Grassy Glide for the time being, and it was nerfed, Rillaboom is still a great team support with U-turn and Knock Off. Honesly it would still be better than Tapu Bulu even without Grassy Glide solely because of U-turn and Knock Off being the best moves in the game. Only other thing is that Rillaboom is trolled by Great Tusk's 87 Speed, but not as much because its a Grass type and has good enough bulk. Also Earthquake variants of Great Tusk suffer because of Grassy Terrain.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Remember what I was talking about in the Kleavor section, about a better hazard setting move? Well Shadow the Hedgehog, I mean Samurott-H is what I was referring to. What makes it better as a hazard setter is a few things.
1. Spikes are stackable while Stealth Rock isn't. So spamming it does more for you than Stone Axe, which makes Choice items a bit better.
2. Samurott-H is a Water type with good Special attack, letting it threaten Great Tusk on the switch in, even if it's trolled by that 87 Spe
3. That same mixed potential also gives it an advantage to so many other Pokemon in the micro hazards meta like Glimmora not setting T-spikes, or being able to pick off things with Aqua Jet/Sucker Punch while Kleavor only has Quick Attack.
4. You also have STAB Knock Off as an option, which also beats Mew's Red Card anticks.
5. It resists that STABs of Gholdango and can actually threaten it back too. It can even do this with a - SpD nature so long as its not something like Specs
6. Dark means its immune to Prankster
7. You also have potential for Encore and Taunt
While Kleavor may be better offensively, its not like Kleavor isn't is gonna be a superstar offensively either. I think both will be good, with Kleavor having Stone Axe as a bonus for being more general, while Samurott-H is better hazard setting specialist.
Also note that Otters actually eat Alligators. Just thought you should know.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Like with Regidrago, Slowbro-G was buffed thanks to Tera which helps it both offensively and defensively, but also lost Scald. While it has to use Surf now for special sets, it is now is marginally better at running physical sets now at least. Not enough to make it UU probably.
Tier: OU
Explanation: So previously, Slowking and Slowbro were the ones with the pivoting move while Galar forms were left in the dust. Slowking-G still was great in its own right, but was a shame it couldn't pivot around. But now, it has Chilly Reception, which far outweighs it losing Scald. Also I'm surprised to see that Slowking-G NOW gets Toxic and Toxic Spikes. I thought it did previously, but now it has them, which is even better now with how rare Toxic is.
Tier: Ubers (why is anyone even saying it's not ban worthy?)
Explanation: Sneedler is possibly one of the most broken non-legendaries we've seen and very easily could make history for Smogon. Dire Claw is absurdly broken, having a 1/6 chance to put anything to sleep, which is even stupid for Uber Standards. Not only is it a 1/6 chance to be put to sleep, but 1/6 chance to be paralyzed, and about 42% chance to being Poisoned if you're running Poison Touch. But it's all "cool" that you need a Steel type or Status immune thing for every team to switch-in WRONG Sneedler is a Fighting type who dunks on majority of Steels, dunks on Garganacl that isn't Tera Ghost or Poison, dunks on your Shield Dust Frosmoth you brought even though its shit. Close Combat fucks up pretty much everything that can switch into Dire Claw besides Gholdango and Venomoth. In 2 moves, Sneedler dominates all but 2 and 1/9th Pokemon. Of course there are plenty of things that can outspeed it, but that's assuming you sacked something to revenge kill it or you got lucky and you weren't paralyzed or put to sleep, so right now only 2 and 1/9th actual switch ins. Now you have your choice of coverage to beat the few answers against it. While the options are weak, keep in mind it's for a few select Pokemon, and that would be Night Slash really. You hit everything neutrally and can now hit Gholdango at all, though be warned that Defensive Gholdango requires Tera Dark to even 2HKO Defensive Gholdango, and Garg is a 3HKO for most sets though Sneedler will still win against non-Body Press sets and especially with Sword Dance, which also lets you OHKO Defensive Gholdango. Optionally, you also have access to Poison Touch U-turns too. So if you really wanted to have 0 morals, you can U-turn out while having a 30% chance to Poison the Pokemon coming in. Only Grafaiai has that combo of U-turn + Poison Touch (and ironically Unburden too) as well, and you just never saw it because Prankster is usually better.
And you know, I haven't even talked about Unburden either and its already incredibly broken. Once it gets its Unburden boost, from Rillaboom providing Grassy Terrain or something, the only things capable of outspeeding you are Barraskewda (outclassed by Floatzl of all things), Choice Scarf Double Speeders (which is just fucking stupid), and Unburden Accelgor (which is stupid and not in the game). And you're not outspeeding it with Ditto with how Unburden works. And guess what? It has the highest offensive for Unburden users, with 120 BP STABs in Gunk Shot and Close Combat. And then you can dunk on any Gholdangos with Night Slash, Tera Blast Dark, or Fire Punch after a Sword Dance, which I recommend over Acrobatics, even though Tera Flying Acro is about as strong as Hawlucha's Tera Flying Acro. So yeah even without Dire Claw it's stupidly broken.
I honest to god think now one actually looked at this Pokemon critically, or even at all besides its stats, because its fucking absurd. Dire Claw alone is a nightmare and puts Smogon in a tight spot. Since its an attacking move with 1/6 chance to put you to sleep, cartridge players are really screwed over as they don't have sleep clause to prevent sleep. Smogon might have to change Sleep Clause because of this busted ass move. Sneasle-H doesn't get Dire Claw, so banning just Dire Claw isn't much of a solution considering they didn't ban Last Respects initially because only 1 Pokemon got it. If Dire Claw isn't banned or Sneedler isn't, it's gonna be a massive difference between cart and sim play. Larger than those niche sleep power scenarios and larger than those VGC Stall scenarios. That's why I think this Pokemon will genuinely be historical. And more I talk about it, more realistic the proposition that a regular ass non-legendary could be AG because of a stupidly uncompetitive move. I'm being serious (for the most part at least).
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: No doubt this thing is gonna be Ubers now thanks to new Fighting coverage it gets. Doesn't need to have weird EV spread with Sub. It can now just hit Dark and Normal types.
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: Regular Tauros just sucks. Even the Combat form of its Paldea form has more use than regular Tauros.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: Thundurus-I was UUBL last gen, and only thing that changed is that it gets Ice and Water coverage again in Tera Blast (though has Grass Knot, which may be preferred), and got a new signature move that's like special electric version of stone edge with a paralysis effect. It's ehh. Too strong for UU but I don't see it doing much in OU either with Ting-Lu, Great Tusk, and plenty of strong priority around.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Same as its base form, it was mildly changed and it was UU last gen. Hopefully Iron Treads drops to UU too.
Tier: RU
Explanation: I think Tornadus was the one buffed the most between the base form Genies, but buffed the most doesn't mean you're broken. Bleakwind Storm is definitely the best out of the genie signature moves dues to the stat drop in speed, which imo is better than Hurricane's confusion chance. Additionally Tornadus benefits the most from Tera since it allows Tornadus to give itself a secondary STAB, probably Tera Blast Ground or something. Was NUBL and would probably fit nice in RU with how fast it is and the buffs it gets.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Same can't be said for Tornadus's Therian form. Losing Defog and Knock Off is a big blow it its pivoting supportive sets. Though with Defog it's still be a big blow with Gholdango running around. But Torn-T is still an incredibly fast pivot who is pretty strong against several offensive threats in the tier, namely Great Tusk, Cinderace, Roaring Moon before a boost, and Specs Iron Valiant. It appreciates Bleakwind Storm too since Sun being everywhere lowers Hurricane's accuracy by a lot. Additionally offensive Torn is still as viable, if not more viable now.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Pretty garbage pokemon competitively honestly. Like Typhlosion is NU at best once it drops, while Typhlosion-H is imo worse Typhlosion. This is because instead of a cool ability like Decidueye with Scrappy and Samurott with Sharpness, Typhlosion gets fucking Frisk. Additionally it also has worse speed, and that drop in speed is pretty significant in the lower tiers. You get outsped by tons of base 100s and speed tie base 95s, while regular Typhlosion speed ties the former and outspeeds the latter. Only thing it has is Infernal Parade and STAB ghost moves.
tbh, I do like that Hisui Typhlosion isn't just a straight upgrade from Typhlosion and is instead a sidegrade arguably. Many regional forms are just straight upgrades.
Tier: UU
Explanation: I think a lot of people are overrating Ursaluna's viability, probably looking at its STAB Guts boosted Facades off its massive 140 Atk and thinking how strong that is. Looking at Ursaluna for a bit, it's not all that great actually for OU, and even is manageable in UU too. Major problem of Guts users is that Guts constantly eats away at your health, literally burning away your longevity. Majority of Guts users have been incredibly slow, and when they weren't slow they were weak or frail. Imo Ursaluna's problems are;
1. Its speed stat is incredibly slow, and reaches 199 with Adamant. This is especially trolly because after a +1 boost from Trailblaze, guess what outspeeds you? Yup, it's Great Tusk by 2 whole state points. So you need to run Jolly and cut into your power.
2. Its only means to offset burn is UnSTAB Drain Punch, and between Sword Dance, Facade, Headlong Rush/Earthquake, and Trailblaze, it's tough to fit on Ursaluna and honestly doesn't do much either.
3. Corviknight, especially Corviknight with Rocky Helmet or Body Press. And btw, Corviknight take Close Combat too
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 158-187 (39.5 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Corv then proceeds to Roost till your in Body Press range from Burn and Def drops.
4. UU also has options for Ursaluna and options that are arguably better for the bulky wallbreaker archetype like Tyranitar, who chips you passively instead of Ursaluna chipping itself. Also like you outspeed 5 Pokemon and speed tie with Donphan.
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Tier: Uber
Explanation: I put these 2 together since honestly both are broken. They got Sword Dance and Trailblaze, and can get an Adaptability boost with Tera, and now have upgraded Protective Pads. They are busted and I'm surprised how many people are saying Rapid Strike is gonna be OU.
Tier: PU
Explanation: The least buffed of the Lake Trio, but for PU standards it's good. It was Untiered last time with a niche in PU, but now its niche is greater and in a PU with less Pokemon. Before it was used on Grassy Terrain HO teams as a Stored Power, and now you can use that set with Tera, as either coverage or protecting yourself from status.
Tier: Literally same as Vivillon
Explanation: Literally is no different from regular Vivillon besides having a cool pattern. That's it pretty much (though I don't have a degree in Vivillonology)
Tier: OU
Explanation: Volcanion did lose Defog (and Sludge Wave :'( ), but almost all Volcanion were all out attackers. What it didn't lose was Scald/Steam Eruption (and Sludge Bomb :D), which is great for it since its a one of a kind this Gen. Its also a great check to Walking Wake, and is a good abuser of Tera. Tera Ground being ideal since it gives you immunity to Electric, resist Rock, become neutral to Ground, give STAB to Earth Power, and also only have 2 weaknesses.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Honestly the most PU of all time. Slow, semi-bulky, mixed attacker. It has Intimidate and Sap Sipper, and Psyshield Bash is decent, but overall the PU of all time.
/ 
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: With the nerfs, duh
/ 
Tier: Ubers, possible OU
Explanation: I previously made a rant about these 2, and with the changes overall nerfing then, especially Zama-Hero, I think it might be fair to test them in OU. Yeah NatDex recent suspect Zama-H, but it also has Z moves and Pursuit support in that Meta. It's not as good here as in NatDex, and here I even argue Hero form is outclassed by Iron Valiant. I also think Crowned form could be OU too, as while it has Body Press, pure Body Press sets are shit and easy to wall, and otherwise does nothing Hero form can't do besides tank some hits, which it's worse at doing now because of said nerfs.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Easy OU. Being one of the best Fighting and Ground checks in the game, and a Flying type not weak to Electric. Similar to Torn, it lost Defog, but is a bit more upsetting since it has strong Thunderbolt and Heat wave for Gholdango. It also lost Weather Ball too. But you can't understate how good Electric/Flying is defensively when you also have Roost, U-turn, and Thunderbolt.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Gapdos is definitely a strong Pokemon, however Gapdos suffers a bit after losing Dark coverage. This coverage is pretty significant as Gapdos now only has Stomping Tantrum as a means to hit Gholdango. So it's in a pickle where it's bad against Gholdango, but with its typing pretty good against Great Tusk not running Ice Spinner. It additionally has to compete with Great Tusk and Iron Valiant as the Fighting type on a team, which I think it can compete now that is has Trailblaze + Bulk up. We'll have to see.
Tier: UU/OU
Explanation: Zarude is an excellent Pokemon and greatly benefits from Tera. It has basically the perfect stat distribution got a Pokemon with 600 BST and isn't ridiculously minmaxed. Its typing is like Tyranitar's where it's surprisingly good defensively despite the massive weaknesses, though those weakness still exist and are prominent. Whether its UU or OU, we'll have to see, but it'll still be great in OU anyways.
https://pokepast.es/ec3365b4b7b4eb41
https://pokepast.es/21cfca3883139b46
https://pokepast.es/ceac9da2fc16cbb0
https://pokepast.es/5f3e3ee105e8640d
Tier: OU
Explanation: I think people are really sleeping on this thing because of its typing. Its actually pretty comparable to Marowak-Alola is power due to Head Smash's giant BP, which surpasses Shadow Bone.
252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Armarouge: 440-518 (141.4 - 166.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Arcanine-Hisui Head Smash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Armarouge: 492-582 (158.1 - 187.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Factor in the fact that Arcanine isn't restricted to holding a specific item to be useful, is way faster, and has 2nd Strongest Extreme Speed outside of Ubers, which with Tera Normal bypasses the major weaknesses of Arcanine-H, makes it a strong contender for OU
Tier: Ubers, Legend Plate AG
Explanation: Regular Arceus is a no brainer for Ubers, and most of the cover mascots tier Pokemon will be glossed over because, well duh. Arceus is special because from PLA you have the new Legend Plate Arceus. This plate essentially ensures Arceus/Judgement has a type advantage against the thing in front of it, which frankly is the most absurdly broken thing in all of Pokemon. 1 move, and Arceus has perfect coverage. It can just use Judgement and focus on other utility moves in your moveset, and now you're nearly impossible to deal with unless you're incredibly bulky specially (which eventually is beaten out by calm mind) or manipulate its typing so a revenge killer like Koraidon can KO it.
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: No surprises here. Articuno is a shitmon. Even with Tera solving its bad typing, there isn't much reason to use it.
Tier: PUBL/NU
Explanation: Better than original Articuno, but not so much as to make massive waves in higher tiers. It's better regularly and better abuses Tera as Tera Blast gives it a way to beat Steel types that isn't Stored Power after 20 turns of set up.
Tier: RU/RUBL
Explanation: Normally this version of Avalugg would be worse, but in Gen 9 only, I'd say its better. And yeah, it's Tera. It trades in some Special bulk to be faster and hit harder. Its much better offensively and also packs pretty much everything regular Avalugg has and wants like Stealth Rock.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Azelf seems like the most buffed of the Lake Trio, but only because Mystic Favors it the most. Its also a decent hazard setter, but outclassed by Mew in that regard. It also can give itself STABs with Tera, block rapid spin, or let it survive in a pinch with a type change.
Tier: RU, Last Respects Ubers (don't listen to the OU Room on Showdown saying Basculegion will be the one banned and not LR. It would be embarrassing for Smogon to do that)
Explanation: Without Last Respects, Male Basculegion is really outclassed honestly. Its comparable to Crawdaunt, except that it has a much worse movepool. Your options for physical ghost STAB are LR, Phantom Force, and Tera Blast Ghost. That's pretty detrimental for Basculegion's viability as now it has to Tera for good secondary STAB outside of Ubers. Between those options you have Psychic Fang, Head Smash with recoil, Crunch, Ice Fang, and Double-Edge. Pretty poor choice outside of spamming Wave Crashes. Also no Sword Dance or Dragon Dance too. Still RU because Crawdaunt isn't in the game and would likely be UU or even OU if it was.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Much better movepool than its male counterpart. Female version at least has usable Ghost moves to use besides the banworthy move. It has less type coverage, but Ice Beam is always great and is more impressive given Basculegion's type.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: This thing is the strongest Tinted Lens user in the game, both in fire power and BST (at least legal currently). And unlike other Tinted Lens users, this thing also has Sheer Force (effectively stronger than Lando-I with Hurricane btw). Its actually insane that you can choose between being not walled by type resistances or not walled by pure bulk. Additionally Esper Wing for Tinted Lens is incredibly good, having the best of both good STAB and Trailblaze speed boosts. You then have Calm Mind and Agility to let it sweep pretty easily.
Problem. It's slow and frail and relies heavily on free turns to get going and even after +1 is still outsped by Meowscarada naturally, among many many potential scarfers. It is however better in UU and probably too good.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: AG
Explanation: Being one of the best Pokemon in Ubers last Gen, no thanks to Arceus-Dark's absence, Calyrex-S's main flaw was Dark types of course. No doubt that with there only being Arceus-Dark and some lesser dark types, and more importantly getting Fighting coverage while resisting Sucker Punch, Calyrex-S will join the AG club. Honestly still not as broken as Legend Plate Arcues imo.
Tier: Untiered/PU
You set up Stealth Rock and Spikes with a build in Focus Sash and that's about it. PU even has 2 Spikes/Rock setters already, and even Sudowoodo does too, which is untiered, but Carbink is better than Sudowoodo at that, which isn't saying much,
Tier: UU
Explanation: Chesnaught was UU last time it was usable and it only got more buffs to keep up with UU Powercreep. Not only as utility, but with set up as well thanks to Body Press for Bulk Up, and Trailblaze for both Belly Drum, Sword Dance, and Bulk Up.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Cresselia will find a niche in every tier, like most Pokemon do, but will most likely end up in RUBL. It has cool new toy in Less PP Jungle Healing, which helps Calm Mind sets, along with Tera, but otherwise is not that impressive. Its still very weak without several boosts, and while bulky can be worn down before it does damage. Otherwise it's basic support Pokemon for HO teams that can bring a Pokemon back in the game with Lunar Dance.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: I think overall Decidueye is outclassed by Chesnaught a little as a Grass/Fighting type. It has its own good qualities, like Triple Arrow being a great Fighting move, Scrappy, and has Defog + Knock Off, but Chesnaught is also way bulkier and has more options. UU is also not lacking in hazard removal options too, even regular Decidueye having Defog too.
Tier: RU
Explanation: Delphox has improved since Gen 7, but likely won't be UU due to Armarouge being there too and is mostly better. Can't go wrong with Arm Cannon, Expanding Force, and Weak Armor. Only time you'll see it in OU is on a Youtuber's "DELPHOX DESTROYS OU" video where they use Copycat Shell Smash strategy with Eject Pack Torkoal, but using Magician, and even then you could use Meowscarade for that too.
/ Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: RU
Explanation: Diancie was NU last Gen and now it can shed its awful typing while being offensively threatening too. Definitely RU.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Probably the best of the "Ugtrio trio" outside of Arena Trap, thanks to Steel typing giving it tons of resistances to tank as hit in PU. It now has Sword Dance too, but that probably won't bring it to NU tier since regular Dugtrio has it too.
Tier: NU
Explanation: Grass compliments Electrode extremely well offensively thanks to hitting the ground types that wall it, but unfortunately has 80 SpA as its highest offensive. You're also still walled by Grass and Dragon types, which isn't too bad since you have Leech Seed, Volt Switch, and Tera too. Definitely a lot better than regular Electrode.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: I don't know why people have any doubts about Enamorus staying in OU. Serperior was a super star in OU solely because of Contrary and that thing would be an NU/PU shitmon otherwise. Enamorus-I regularly would be around UU and OU powerlevels, and it gets Contrary + Superpower. If Revenge killing was an issue for it, then you can just simply run Tailwind, which you then need to plan around as it whales on you with increasingly strong Superpowers. You don't even have to use Contrary either. You can use regular set up which you'll need to account for as well. It's simply way to strong with an S tier ability.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: It's the weaker of the 2 Enamorus forms, but still is pretty solid. It trades off most of its speed for much better bulk, and bulk it uses well thanks to being Fairy/Flying type. Its a great answer to Great Tusk and tons of other top tiers. It has excellent special options as well to be pretty threatening. Sadly it's so slow that even Kingambit outspeeds it (you know, one of the best offensive Steels in the game), and lacks recovery.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
/ Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: NU
Explanation: Glastrier is greatly improved thanks to Tera and new Trailblaze, which it can realistically spam with its bulk combined with Tera type, but that doesn't make it that much better. +1 only outspeeds base 69 (nice), and +2 you speed tier Walking Wake. But by that time you'd be dead or heavily chipped to be killed by strong priority. Like Cetitan is RU and that thing has basically the same bulk, but also Belly Drum, Slush Rush, Earthquake, Sheer Force, and you already outspeed +1 Glastrier as well.
Tier: RU
Explanation: Hoodra has a much better typing than its Kalos counterpart and better bulk, but that's just about it. Honestly I don't see why many people are rating this thing so highly as to say its OU material, when there are better special walls with good recovery and who are just about as threatening too.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: OU
Explanation: Do I need to explain this one too? Heatran is an OU staple and greatly benefits from Tera as well.
Tier: UU
Explanation: I think people underrate Hoopa-C this gen despite being massively buffed both directly and indirectly. A lack of pursuit is fantastic for Hoopa as now it's no longer food for the average Dark type. And you know how Calyrex-S will be AG thanks to Tera? Well Hoopa benefits a lot from Tera too. It can now Tera Fighting to give its Focus Blast STAB while also being able to tank Dark type attacks very easily, and special Ghost attacks too. Or you can Tera to something else like Electric to resist Bullet Punch, Dark to resist both Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak, Ghost to amp up your Ghost STAB to absurd levels, Fairy for utility sets or if you want Tera Fairy STAB, ect. You really can't go wrong.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: Well now, Hoopa-Unbound is a whole new story. Being Hoopa-Confined but most part better. You have better Speed, SpA, and Slaking tier Atk. Previously the drawback of Hoopa-Unbound was that its typing sucked shit. Having 0 resistances and a nasty weakness to Bug too. Additionally it was still Pursuit weak due to its frailer physical side + the drop you get from Hyperspace Fury. However, Tera allows Hoopa-U to actually resist things, which is frankly massive. In addition, it can be far more customizable with Tera now that its working with both Special and Physicals moves. You couldn't wall this thing before and need to beat it with offensive pressure, now while still physically frail, you are able to actually tank hits. Even physical threats like Great Tusk go from easily OHKOing it most of the time to not having a guaranteed 2HKO on Hoopa-U.
252 Atk Great Tusk Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Tera Flying Hoopa-Unbound: 148-174 (49.1 - 57.8%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO (it's 97.7% but it's also Great Tusk vs fucking Hoopa too). Like I showed earlier, you can even nearly OHKO Great Tusk with a fucking Dark Pulse after Tera Dark. You think Kingambit's dark spam is bad? Hoopa is a KOing machine even with just Scarf. It can spam you with Knock Off, Hyperspace Fury, and Dark Pulse, while removing resists with Psychic, Fighting, and Poison coverage. It may not have Sucker Punch, but it does have better Speed that's enough to make it faster than Dragapult after a Choice Scarf and more than enough speed to crush bulkier teams.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Kleavor is the alternate evolution of Scyther introduced in PLA and shares a similar stat distribution to Scizor. It gains more Speed and Atk from some bulk and not used SpA. Additionally it gets much improved Sharpness ability that is generally an upgrade from Technician, trades in Steel for Rock making it have a better offensive STAB at the cost of lots of resistances, and most importantly has Stone Axe. Attacking version of Stealth Rock. Stone Axe will make Kleavor OU be default as its a great hazard setting tool. It pressures majority of things that want to remove hazards because they have to decide to either attack you or to Defog/Rapid Spin. However, there is another better hazard setter with a similar move we'll talk about later, and additionally the best Hazard remover in the tier has extremely Trolly speed tier, being Great Tusk at 87. That 87 Tier is gonna troll a lot more Pokemon than you think. Great Tusk is also a Great Wall for Kleavor who doesn't have any real options to beat it besides Aerial Ace. Without Tera Flying or Bug, Great Tusk cleanly 2HKOs you too.
But still, Attacking Stealth Rock is no joke.
Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: Uber
Explanation: Despite the movepool nerfs, its still definitely Ubers. The movepool nerfs fair it better than its Lion counterpart.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Despite the movepool nerfs, competition with Great Tusk, and the harsher landscape, Landorus-T is still one of the bests of all time. You can never go wrong with a Fighting, Ground, and Electric resist for any team, and combo of Earthquake, U-turn, Stealth Rock, and some 4th move is going to always be good for Landorus-T. It's just that the 4th move isn't Toxic, Knock Off, HP Ice, or Defog. It has plenty of options still, including psuedo Hidden Power in Tera Blast, which works off its stronger Atk stat too (though ironically less ideal for Lando wars). You still have fantastic options like Taunt, Smack Down, Grass Knot, and maybe some other out of the box option. Additionally, its offensive sets are only better since it now gets Physical Flying STAB that isn't Fly with Tera Blast Flying. Giving it that coveted Ground/Flying coverage only walled by specific Pokemon.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: Lilligant-H has the new move Victory Dance, which is a physical version of Quiver Dance, which also means Lilligant-H semi-protects itself from priority, which is huge. But that's about it. It's also arguably the best user of Solar Blade and a fast Sleep Powder. But that's just about it. Hustle makes its physical moves Strong, but completely unreliable and with no way to boost accuracy without Wide Lens, which just makes them 88% accurate for moves that should be 100% accurate. Without Hustle, it doesn't do as much damage as it should for how frail it is. It can hit Flying types with Ice Spinner, but gets easily walled by Poison types not named Toxapex or Clodsire. Your competition is also Breloom, Volcarona, and Dragonite. One having Spore and priority, one having great fire power even before a boost, and one that has great fire power + priority + is incredibly bulky. However definitely too strong for UU, so in UUBL hell it goes.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: Get this thing out of my face. It was already broken in Gen 8 after getting Stored Power. Now it still has SP and has Tera Blast too.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Honestly I just put it in RUBL because it was in RU in previous gens and now has Tera for defensive and offensive purposes.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Only reason why its not Untiered is because its new signature move and being really good with Tera (in PU context).
Tier: OU
Explanation: Even though Mew's only recovery now it Life Dew and drain moves, I still think it'll do extremely well in OU. You know how everyone wanted Mega Mew with Protean? Well it can sort of do that with Tera. It has a massive offensive and utility movepool. I mean really, people think Lilligant-H is OU material because of Victory Dance despite its massive flaws, while Mew still has Dragon Dance while having all the coverage and only 5 less Atk (yeah it gets Hustle, but Hustle sucks tbh). Oh and better defensive type. You also have hazard setting Mew, which has the benefit of being a great answer to Great Tusk as its faster and has STAB Psychic.
Tier: Uber
Explanation: duh
Tier: UU
Explanation: Was UU last gen and I don't see a reason why it would be UU again this Gen. Not like Heavy Duty Boots isn't in the game.
Tier: UU/UUBL
Explanation: Like before, Moltres-G was UU last Gen and eventually banned. And nothing changed, besides Tinkaton existing, which may cause Moltres-G to use Tera Blast Ground/Fire, and that's about it.
Tier: UU/OU
Explanation: Muk-A is a great special wall, staving off many special attackers thanks to only being weak to Ground, being very bulky, and hitting back decently. I can't decide if it should be OU or UU tbh. There are lots of factors to consider, especially now that it has Tera to work with. Also last we saw it was in Gen 7 where unknockable items were common and Knock Off was everywhere. So it can definitely get bigger role in OU.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Poison/Dark is a great typing, but honestly better suited for specially bulky Pokemon. Overqwil has many things over Muk-A like T/Spikes, Barb Barrage, and Intimidate/Swift Swim, but lacks things like Knock Off, which alone is huge. Biggest thing is the Gholdego match-up, which Overqwil is less fortunate than Muk in, as well as Iron Valiant, Kingambit, Dragapult, and Hatterene. It's also another example of Great Tusk's trolly speed tier as Overqwil is just slower than Great Tusk. So it has too many issue in OU to be more than niche, but would be great in UU.
/ Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: It was Untiered last gen and all it got was Tera Blast Fighting, but even in PU you wouldn't want to use your Tera on this thing lets be honest, even if you get perfect coverage.
Tier: PUBL
Explanation: Was there last Gen and Home doesn't have Tapu Koko, so it's not Raichu's time to shine yet.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: duh
Tier: RU/RUBL
Explanation: It was RU last gen, but with some good and bad changes. Firstly is Tera Blast is great for it. It can properly fight Fairy types with Tera Poison. It also now has Earthquake, Earth power, and Tera Blast Fire for Steels that also hit Fairy neutrally. However, Regidrago did lose a great tool in Scale Shot, which would be a great option this gen with Loaded Dice.
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: You know, apologies to Regieleki before. I thought Tera [coverage for ground] wouldn't be that strong, but I was wrong as evident by it being banned in National Dex. Yes, the metagame if NatDex is different from SV OU, but that difference is that it keeps the powercreep from previous gens. So if super OU can't handle it with Tera, I doubt regular OU can.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Honestly have no clue why some people think Rillaboom is suddenly bad now. Like hello, Grassy Surge? Yeah it doesn't have Grassy Glide for the time being, and it was nerfed, Rillaboom is still a great team support with U-turn and Knock Off. Honesly it would still be better than Tapu Bulu even without Grassy Glide solely because of U-turn and Knock Off being the best moves in the game. Only other thing is that Rillaboom is trolled by Great Tusk's 87 Speed, but not as much because its a Grass type and has good enough bulk. Also Earthquake variants of Great Tusk suffer because of Grassy Terrain.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Remember what I was talking about in the Kleavor section, about a better hazard setting move? Well Shadow the Hedgehog, I mean Samurott-H is what I was referring to. What makes it better as a hazard setter is a few things.
1. Spikes are stackable while Stealth Rock isn't. So spamming it does more for you than Stone Axe, which makes Choice items a bit better.
2. Samurott-H is a Water type with good Special attack, letting it threaten Great Tusk on the switch in, even if it's trolled by that 87 Spe
3. That same mixed potential also gives it an advantage to so many other Pokemon in the micro hazards meta like Glimmora not setting T-spikes, or being able to pick off things with Aqua Jet/Sucker Punch while Kleavor only has Quick Attack.
4. You also have STAB Knock Off as an option, which also beats Mew's Red Card anticks.
5. It resists that STABs of Gholdango and can actually threaten it back too. It can even do this with a - SpD nature so long as its not something like Specs
6. Dark means its immune to Prankster
7. You also have potential for Encore and Taunt
While Kleavor may be better offensively, its not like Kleavor isn't is gonna be a superstar offensively either. I think both will be good, with Kleavor having Stone Axe as a bonus for being more general, while Samurott-H is better hazard setting specialist.
Also note that Otters actually eat Alligators. Just thought you should know.
Tier: RUBL
Explanation: Like with Regidrago, Slowbro-G was buffed thanks to Tera which helps it both offensively and defensively, but also lost Scald. While it has to use Surf now for special sets, it is now is marginally better at running physical sets now at least. Not enough to make it UU probably.
Tier: OU
Explanation: So previously, Slowking and Slowbro were the ones with the pivoting move while Galar forms were left in the dust. Slowking-G still was great in its own right, but was a shame it couldn't pivot around. But now, it has Chilly Reception, which far outweighs it losing Scald. Also I'm surprised to see that Slowking-G NOW gets Toxic and Toxic Spikes. I thought it did previously, but now it has them, which is even better now with how rare Toxic is.
Tier: Ubers (why is anyone even saying it's not ban worthy?)
Explanation: Sneedler is possibly one of the most broken non-legendaries we've seen and very easily could make history for Smogon. Dire Claw is absurdly broken, having a 1/6 chance to put anything to sleep, which is even stupid for Uber Standards. Not only is it a 1/6 chance to be put to sleep, but 1/6 chance to be paralyzed, and about 42% chance to being Poisoned if you're running Poison Touch. But it's all "cool" that you need a Steel type or Status immune thing for every team to switch-in WRONG Sneedler is a Fighting type who dunks on majority of Steels, dunks on Garganacl that isn't Tera Ghost or Poison, dunks on your Shield Dust Frosmoth you brought even though its shit. Close Combat fucks up pretty much everything that can switch into Dire Claw besides Gholdango and Venomoth. In 2 moves, Sneedler dominates all but 2 and 1/9th Pokemon. Of course there are plenty of things that can outspeed it, but that's assuming you sacked something to revenge kill it or you got lucky and you weren't paralyzed or put to sleep, so right now only 2 and 1/9th actual switch ins. Now you have your choice of coverage to beat the few answers against it. While the options are weak, keep in mind it's for a few select Pokemon, and that would be Night Slash really. You hit everything neutrally and can now hit Gholdango at all, though be warned that Defensive Gholdango requires Tera Dark to even 2HKO Defensive Gholdango, and Garg is a 3HKO for most sets though Sneedler will still win against non-Body Press sets and especially with Sword Dance, which also lets you OHKO Defensive Gholdango. Optionally, you also have access to Poison Touch U-turns too. So if you really wanted to have 0 morals, you can U-turn out while having a 30% chance to Poison the Pokemon coming in. Only Grafaiai has that combo of U-turn + Poison Touch (and ironically Unburden too) as well, and you just never saw it because Prankster is usually better.
And you know, I haven't even talked about Unburden either and its already incredibly broken. Once it gets its Unburden boost, from Rillaboom providing Grassy Terrain or something, the only things capable of outspeeding you are Barraskewda (outclassed by Floatzl of all things), Choice Scarf Double Speeders (which is just fucking stupid), and Unburden Accelgor (which is stupid and not in the game). And you're not outspeeding it with Ditto with how Unburden works. And guess what? It has the highest offensive for Unburden users, with 120 BP STABs in Gunk Shot and Close Combat. And then you can dunk on any Gholdangos with Night Slash, Tera Blast Dark, or Fire Punch after a Sword Dance, which I recommend over Acrobatics, even though Tera Flying Acro is about as strong as Hawlucha's Tera Flying Acro. So yeah even without Dire Claw it's stupidly broken.
I honest to god think now one actually looked at this Pokemon critically, or even at all besides its stats, because its fucking absurd. Dire Claw alone is a nightmare and puts Smogon in a tight spot. Since its an attacking move with 1/6 chance to put you to sleep, cartridge players are really screwed over as they don't have sleep clause to prevent sleep. Smogon might have to change Sleep Clause because of this busted ass move. Sneasle-H doesn't get Dire Claw, so banning just Dire Claw isn't much of a solution considering they didn't ban Last Respects initially because only 1 Pokemon got it. If Dire Claw isn't banned or Sneedler isn't, it's gonna be a massive difference between cart and sim play. Larger than those niche sleep power scenarios and larger than those VGC Stall scenarios. That's why I think this Pokemon will genuinely be historical. And more I talk about it, more realistic the proposition that a regular ass non-legendary could be AG because of a stupidly uncompetitive move. I'm being serious (for the most part at least).
Tier: Ubers
Explanation: No doubt this thing is gonna be Ubers now thanks to new Fighting coverage it gets. Doesn't need to have weird EV spread with Sub. It can now just hit Dark and Normal types.
Tier: Untiered
Explanation: Regular Tauros just sucks. Even the Combat form of its Paldea form has more use than regular Tauros.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: Thundurus-I was UUBL last gen, and only thing that changed is that it gets Ice and Water coverage again in Tera Blast (though has Grass Knot, which may be preferred), and got a new signature move that's like special electric version of stone edge with a paralysis effect. It's ehh. Too strong for UU but I don't see it doing much in OU either with Ting-Lu, Great Tusk, and plenty of strong priority around.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Same as its base form, it was mildly changed and it was UU last gen. Hopefully Iron Treads drops to UU too.
Tier: RU
Explanation: I think Tornadus was the one buffed the most between the base form Genies, but buffed the most doesn't mean you're broken. Bleakwind Storm is definitely the best out of the genie signature moves dues to the stat drop in speed, which imo is better than Hurricane's confusion chance. Additionally Tornadus benefits the most from Tera since it allows Tornadus to give itself a secondary STAB, probably Tera Blast Ground or something. Was NUBL and would probably fit nice in RU with how fast it is and the buffs it gets.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Same can't be said for Tornadus's Therian form. Losing Defog and Knock Off is a big blow it its pivoting supportive sets. Though with Defog it's still be a big blow with Gholdango running around. But Torn-T is still an incredibly fast pivot who is pretty strong against several offensive threats in the tier, namely Great Tusk, Cinderace, Roaring Moon before a boost, and Specs Iron Valiant. It appreciates Bleakwind Storm too since Sun being everywhere lowers Hurricane's accuracy by a lot. Additionally offensive Torn is still as viable, if not more viable now.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Pretty garbage pokemon competitively honestly. Like Typhlosion is NU at best once it drops, while Typhlosion-H is imo worse Typhlosion. This is because instead of a cool ability like Decidueye with Scrappy and Samurott with Sharpness, Typhlosion gets fucking Frisk. Additionally it also has worse speed, and that drop in speed is pretty significant in the lower tiers. You get outsped by tons of base 100s and speed tie base 95s, while regular Typhlosion speed ties the former and outspeeds the latter. Only thing it has is Infernal Parade and STAB ghost moves.
tbh, I do like that Hisui Typhlosion isn't just a straight upgrade from Typhlosion and is instead a sidegrade arguably. Many regional forms are just straight upgrades.
Tier: UU
Explanation: I think a lot of people are overrating Ursaluna's viability, probably looking at its STAB Guts boosted Facades off its massive 140 Atk and thinking how strong that is. Looking at Ursaluna for a bit, it's not all that great actually for OU, and even is manageable in UU too. Major problem of Guts users is that Guts constantly eats away at your health, literally burning away your longevity. Majority of Guts users have been incredibly slow, and when they weren't slow they were weak or frail. Imo Ursaluna's problems are;
1. Its speed stat is incredibly slow, and reaches 199 with Adamant. This is especially trolly because after a +1 boost from Trailblaze, guess what outspeeds you? Yup, it's Great Tusk by 2 whole state points. So you need to run Jolly and cut into your power.
2. Its only means to offset burn is UnSTAB Drain Punch, and between Sword Dance, Facade, Headlong Rush/Earthquake, and Trailblaze, it's tough to fit on Ursaluna and honestly doesn't do much either.
3. Corviknight, especially Corviknight with Rocky Helmet or Body Press. And btw, Corviknight take Close Combat too
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 158-187 (39.5 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Corv then proceeds to Roost till your in Body Press range from Burn and Def drops.
4. UU also has options for Ursaluna and options that are arguably better for the bulky wallbreaker archetype like Tyranitar, who chips you passively instead of Ursaluna chipping itself. Also like you outspeed 5 Pokemon and speed tie with Donphan.
/ Tier: Uber
Explanation: I put these 2 together since honestly both are broken. They got Sword Dance and Trailblaze, and can get an Adaptability boost with Tera, and now have upgraded Protective Pads. They are busted and I'm surprised how many people are saying Rapid Strike is gonna be OU.
Tier: PU
Explanation: The least buffed of the Lake Trio, but for PU standards it's good. It was Untiered last time with a niche in PU, but now its niche is greater and in a PU with less Pokemon. Before it was used on Grassy Terrain HO teams as a Stored Power, and now you can use that set with Tera, as either coverage or protecting yourself from status.
Tier: Literally same as Vivillon
Explanation: Literally is no different from regular Vivillon besides having a cool pattern. That's it pretty much (though I don't have a degree in Vivillonology)
Tier: OU
Explanation: Volcanion did lose Defog (and Sludge Wave :'( ), but almost all Volcanion were all out attackers. What it didn't lose was Scald/Steam Eruption (and Sludge Bomb :D), which is great for it since its a one of a kind this Gen. Its also a great check to Walking Wake, and is a good abuser of Tera. Tera Ground being ideal since it gives you immunity to Electric, resist Rock, become neutral to Ground, give STAB to Earth Power, and also only have 2 weaknesses.
Tier: PU
Explanation: Honestly the most PU of all time. Slow, semi-bulky, mixed attacker. It has Intimidate and Sap Sipper, and Psyshield Bash is decent, but overall the PU of all time.
/ Tier: Ubers
Explanation: With the nerfs, duh
/ Tier: Ubers, possible OU
Explanation: I previously made a rant about these 2, and with the changes overall nerfing then, especially Zama-Hero, I think it might be fair to test them in OU. Yeah NatDex recent suspect Zama-H, but it also has Z moves and Pursuit support in that Meta. It's not as good here as in NatDex, and here I even argue Hero form is outclassed by Iron Valiant. I also think Crowned form could be OU too, as while it has Body Press, pure Body Press sets are shit and easy to wall, and otherwise does nothing Hero form can't do besides tank some hits, which it's worse at doing now because of said nerfs.
Tier: OU
Explanation: Easy OU. Being one of the best Fighting and Ground checks in the game, and a Flying type not weak to Electric. Similar to Torn, it lost Defog, but is a bit more upsetting since it has strong Thunderbolt and Heat wave for Gholdango. It also lost Weather Ball too. But you can't understate how good Electric/Flying is defensively when you also have Roost, U-turn, and Thunderbolt.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Gapdos is definitely a strong Pokemon, however Gapdos suffers a bit after losing Dark coverage. This coverage is pretty significant as Gapdos now only has Stomping Tantrum as a means to hit Gholdango. So it's in a pickle where it's bad against Gholdango, but with its typing pretty good against Great Tusk not running Ice Spinner. It additionally has to compete with Great Tusk and Iron Valiant as the Fighting type on a team, which I think it can compete now that is has Trailblaze + Bulk up. We'll have to see.
Tier: UU/OU
Explanation: Zarude is an excellent Pokemon and greatly benefits from Tera. It has basically the perfect stat distribution got a Pokemon with 600 BST and isn't ridiculously minmaxed. Its typing is like Tyranitar's where it's surprisingly good defensively despite the massive weaknesses, though those weakness still exist and are prominent. Whether its UU or OU, we'll have to see, but it'll still be great in OU anyways.
This is quite the statement given a) you don't know what's going to happen and b) clearly a ton of people disagree with you. I won't belabor the point since it's been beaten to death, but it would be far from embarrassing to go along with a decision that is consistent with existing tiering policy and receives substantial support from some portion of the community. (I won't pretend to know what proportion)
Tier: RU, Last Respects Ubers (don't listen to the OU Room on Showdown saying Basculegion will be the one banned and not LR. It would be embarrassing for Smogon to do that)
Rillaboom wasn't that remarkable without Grassy Glide and only shot up in viability when it gained it. Having knock/U-turn is cute, but Grassy Glide made its kit come together like a neat little bow as it fixed a major flaw it had and made it distinct, but without it Rilla just has a bunch of individual traits that aren't held together. It's honestly a poor support Pokemon because it lacks defensive utility, sits at a weird speed tier (and realistically wants adamant), so it gets chased out super easy. It doesn't really "check" anything in this meta or the coming one, not better than any existing grass types. And no, it's not better than Bulu without GG. Nowhere even close. Bulu has a typing that's very nice in an anti meta way, and can run lots of sets.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Honestly have no clue why some people think Rillaboom is suddenly bad now. Like hello, Grassy Surge? Yeah it doesn't have Grassy Glide for the time being, and it was nerfed, Rillaboom is still a great team support with U-turn and Knock Off. Honesly it would still be better than Tapu Bulu even without Grassy Glide solely because of U-turn and Knock Off being the best moves in the game. Only other thing is that Rillaboom is trolled by Great Tusk's 87 Speed, but not as much because its a Grass type and has good enough bulk. Also Earthquake variants of Great Tusk suffer because of Grassy Terrain
That speed drop is not that big in the lower tiers which have a lower power level and thus lower speed tiers. You say it speed ties base 95s and is outrun by base 100s but don't even day which ones, let alone ones that matter. HTyph has the makings of a solid wall breaker below OU, as ghost/fire is brilliant offensively and a great signature move gives it tons of identity to stand out. Calling it a sidegrade of even worse than regular typhlosion, a generic nondescript fire type, is goofy.
Oh boy.
Tier: UU
Explanation: I think a lot of people are overrating Ursaluna's viability, probably looking at its STAB Guts boosted Facades off its massive 140 Atk and thinking how strong that is. Looking at Ursaluna for a bit, it's not all that great actually for OU, and even is manageable in UU too. Major problem of Guts users is that Guts constantly eats away at your health, literally burning away your longevity. Majority of Guts users have been incredibly slow, and when they weren't slow they were weak or frail. Imo Ursaluna's problems are;
1. Its speed stat is incredibly slow, and reaches 199 with Adamant. This is especially trolly because after a +1 boost from Trailblaze, guess what outspeeds you? Yup, it's Great Tusk by 2 whole state points. So you need to run Jolly and cut into your power.
2. Its only means to offset burn is UnSTAB Drain Punch, and between Sword Dance, Facade, Headlong Rush/Earthquake, and Trailblaze, it's tough to fit on Ursaluna and honestly doesn't do much either.
3. Corviknight, especially Corviknight with Rocky Helmet or Body Press. And btw, Corviknight take Close Combat too
252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 158-187 (39.5 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Corv then proceeds to Roost till your in Body Press range from Burn and Def drops.
4. UU also has options for Ursaluna and options that are arguably better for the bulky wallbreaker archetype like Tyranitar, who chips you passively instead of Ursaluna chipping itself. Also like you outspeed 5 Pokemon and speed tie with Donphan.
It's not just stab 140 guts facade. Its on top of a Pokemon that strong that is also so fat too. The movepool and typing give it many set possibilities, between bulk up variants, classic SD to make any fat team click X right away, Assault Vest Guts to make for a nice status absorber and wallbreaker, substitute bulletproof sets with lefties even would be solid. Even a simple four attacks Guts set to act as an early game wallbreaker is viable. Now your bulleted points
1. Speed is slow. True! But then you remember it's primarily a wallbreaker and see even adamant outruns all the relevant walls and mauls them. If you want to commit to Tera normal facade, it cleaves almost 50% off max def Corv and is a favorable roll to 2HKO THROUGH leftovers with rocks. Now imagine what happens to non resists.
2. You wouldn't run drain punch on most sets except something like a bulk up Tera fighting set. So this whole bit is moot.
3. 252+ Atk Guts Tera Normal Ursaluna Facade (140 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 185-218 (46.3 - 54.6%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. Who would run CC ever?
4. This wouldn't ever touch UU. CB Ttar.is a demon down there and Luna is worlds above that in power. Nothing down there can take its, and barring strong SE hits you can't kill it very easily.
Which brings me to my conclusion: Luna isn't just guts stab facade with 140 attack. It's got a number of attractive qualities that come together very well. And I am going to enjoy using it
I think people are overhyping Enamorus-I a bit too much. Not to say it won't be good, but running a Physical Contrary set doesn't leave you with super good coverage (your realistic non-Tera Blast options: Zen Headbutt and Iron Head), good viable checks and counters already exist (Gholdengo, Corviknight, Skeledirge), and you have to pick and choose what counters you with your Tera. Did you run Ground? Congrats, you can't beat Corviknight without a shitton of boosts while risking Rocky Helmet chip and Dodonzo now gives no fucks. Tera Electric? Skeledirge and Gholdengo wall you all day. Also, using Tera removes your Dark resist so you might get shanked by lategame Kingambit if you're running Life Orb, and you can't guarantee more than a +1 based on the game state since Fighting is a common immunity. It's not like Serperior, where Grass immunities are nonexistent so it can boost indiscriminately and by +2 per turn.
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Electric Enamorus: 151-178 (52.2 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Dead after Rocks and 1-2 turns of Life Orb. Very realistic. (Three allies fainted felt reasonable.)
Non-STAB Superpower is also pretty easy for checks to switch into.
252 Atk Enamorus Superpower vs. 252 HP / 244+ Def Rotom-Wash: 83-98 (27.3 - 32.2%) -- 56.2% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Enamorus Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 244+ Def Rotom-Wash: 139-165 (45.7 - 54.2%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(Rotom would probably have major chip and it can still die, but you get the point.)
Hell, healthy Toxapex eats +1 Tera Blast and can Haze the boosts away.
+1 252 Atk Tera Electric Enamorus Tera Blast vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 200-236 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
You can then switch into a Ghost to screw Enamorus.
Will it be viable? Yes, very much. Will it be a vicious serial killer of a sweeper? I don't think so.
Calm Mind will probably be better anyway. Enamorus has Earth Power, Mystical Fire, Focus Blast and a strong Fairy STAB in Springtime Storm. That's the good shit, run Tera Fairy or Tera Electric with Tera Blast on CM.
252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. +1 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Electric Enamorus: 151-178 (52.2 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Dead after Rocks and 1-2 turns of Life Orb. Very realistic. (Three allies fainted felt reasonable.)
Non-STAB Superpower is also pretty easy for checks to switch into.
252 Atk Enamorus Superpower vs. 252 HP / 244+ Def Rotom-Wash: 83-98 (27.3 - 32.2%) -- 56.2% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Enamorus Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 244+ Def Rotom-Wash: 139-165 (45.7 - 54.2%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
(Rotom would probably have major chip and it can still die, but you get the point.)
Hell, healthy Toxapex eats +1 Tera Blast and can Haze the boosts away.
+1 252 Atk Tera Electric Enamorus Tera Blast vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 200-236 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
You can then switch into a Ghost to screw Enamorus.
Will it be viable? Yes, very much. Will it be a vicious serial killer of a sweeper? I don't think so.
Calm Mind will probably be better anyway. Enamorus has Earth Power, Mystical Fire, Focus Blast and a strong Fairy STAB in Springtime Storm. That's the good shit, run Tera Fairy or Tera Electric with Tera Blast on CM.
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doesn’t it get moonblast?
basculin w and kubfu r getting banned from lc lol
TierList Below
Also I wanna say one thing not may people mentioned except for maybe Cuddly, ZamaHero is looking like OU material to me. Gen 9 gave it a heavy nerf on it's ability rendering it useless if it ever switchs-out, yes, it's fast, bulky and strong but it got a small amount of coverage and the meta is heavily prepared to handle strong fighting types thanks to Tusk and Valiant (and to a lesses extent Hands) running around, hell things are gonna get worse for it since stuff like Lando, Zapdos, Torn-T and others are coming into the meta and make life difficult for the dog. The crowned version I think it's too much though, yes it's slower, it lose the item slot and still hit just as hard as Hero but the Steel Type makes it even more bulky and while it get's three weakness it gets a lot of resists and it's previous weakness become neutrals, I could be wrong and both being Ubers but I think at least one of the Dogs could work in OU.
Edit: Changed my mind about Lillie, it's definitely OU material, was comparing some calcs for shits and giggles and it's CC with a band was just a bit stronger than Band Tusk and then I realized I didn't invest it... Lillie is legit fire, it almost makes the miss chance wortwhile.
The Ubers are obvious, also wanna say here whoever thought giving KungFuPanda forma de EDGE Sword Dance and Emo Horse Draining Kiss should get fired.
The old reliable don't need explanation, you know my thoughts on Hoopa-U, it's a Dark Spam machine, Sneasler is a better Hawlucha nuff said, Not convinced about Enamorus, I believe Valiant it's better but it's still a good strong fairy type and that's something the tier is lacking so it will be OU Not too sure about it's therian form, I think it will fall-off but time will tell, H-Goodra is legit fire, and I think people should be happy we live in a Garga Meta because otherwise it would be too much, AA+BP and Curse sets are nasty if you ain't got a Garga or one of the Unaware mons and even then it's a solid special sponge and can even work offensively thanks to it's huge coverage, H-Lilli is too much for UU, It will probably be solid in OU since it's basic irally a Phys Volca, between Stabs+Tera it's a Match-Up Flower you be praying it misses those Hustle boosted hits, H-Otter is a Spikes bot and unlike Kleavor it's type ain't defensively awful, Ursaluna is stupid the only thing holding it back it's the low speed but Guts boosted Facade/HaR who may be boosted by Tera are nasty, Volcanion can be pretty good in this meta, it's solid into the two main weather while countering both and is the only mon with Scald/SEruption and being the only scald mon is big for it, H-Arca is lowkey dumb, the only thing who takes it's stabs well enough is Chomp other than that who can just spam Banded stabs and rip a new one into the meta.
Now I talk about new mons on lower tiers with a OU Niche, both Basculegion are viable, Adap boosted hits are nasty, the male can be used as slower but stronger alternative to floatzel and the female can spam strong special attacks, Qwil typing+intimidate makes it a decent annoyance it also got both spikes so it's not like it will ever be useless, if it only got a pivot move, it can aslo work in rain but I don't think people will use it much over the fishes or float, H-Braviary is nasty, both Tinted Lens and Sheer Force can work and the only thing holding it back is the bad defensive type but pursuit is gone and we live in tera meta so whatever. Cress and Mew are both ridiculous with tera, make them poison immune and watch as they set-up in your face and sweep, H-Deci is a decent mon, it's main niche will be a defogger who Dhengo can't cockblock and has a decent match up against most hazard setters, Kleavor is a SR bot, the only thing helding it back from being OU is the shitty defensive type.
I see a lot of people dissing Rilla saying you be better with Arbolive, I don't think so, yeah it took a hit by losing glide but it's the best field setter we have and unlike arbo it doesn't need to take a hit to set it's field plus it still retain lot's of it's utility moves. Yes it won't be spamming that boosted priority but it definetely a decent pick, like a B rank mon.
The old reliable don't need explanation, you know my thoughts on Hoopa-U, it's a Dark Spam machine, Sneasler is a better Hawlucha nuff said, Not convinced about Enamorus, I believe Valiant it's better but it's still a good strong fairy type and that's something the tier is lacking so it will be OU Not too sure about it's therian form, I think it will fall-off but time will tell, H-Goodra is legit fire, and I think people should be happy we live in a Garga Meta because otherwise it would be too much, AA+BP and Curse sets are nasty if you ain't got a Garga or one of the Unaware mons and even then it's a solid special sponge and can even work offensively thanks to it's huge coverage, H-Lilli is too much for UU, It will probably be solid in OU since it's basic irally a Phys Volca, between Stabs+Tera it's a Match-Up Flower you be praying it misses those Hustle boosted hits, H-Otter is a Spikes bot and unlike Kleavor it's type ain't defensively awful, Ursaluna is stupid the only thing holding it back it's the low speed but Guts boosted Facade/HaR who may be boosted by Tera are nasty, Volcanion can be pretty good in this meta, it's solid into the two main weather while countering both and is the only mon with Scald/SEruption and being the only scald mon is big for it, H-Arca is lowkey dumb, the only thing who takes it's stabs well enough is Chomp other than that who can just spam Banded stabs and rip a new one into the meta.
Now I talk about new mons on lower tiers with a OU Niche, both Basculegion are viable, Adap boosted hits are nasty, the male can be used as slower but stronger alternative to floatzel and the female can spam strong special attacks, Qwil typing+intimidate makes it a decent annoyance it also got both spikes so it's not like it will ever be useless, if it only got a pivot move, it can aslo work in rain but I don't think people will use it much over the fishes or float, H-Braviary is nasty, both Tinted Lens and Sheer Force can work and the only thing holding it back is the bad defensive type but pursuit is gone and we live in tera meta so whatever. Cress and Mew are both ridiculous with tera, make them poison immune and watch as they set-up in your face and sweep, H-Deci is a decent mon, it's main niche will be a defogger who Dhengo can't cockblock and has a decent match up against most hazard setters, Kleavor is a SR bot, the only thing helding it back from being OU is the shitty defensive type.
I see a lot of people dissing Rilla saying you be better with Arbolive, I don't think so, yeah it took a hit by losing glide but it's the best field setter we have and unlike arbo it doesn't need to take a hit to set it's field plus it still retain lot's of it's utility moves. Yes it won't be spamming that boosted priority but it definetely a decent pick, like a B rank mon.
Also I wanna say one thing not may people mentioned except for maybe Cuddly, ZamaHero is looking like OU material to me. Gen 9 gave it a heavy nerf on it's ability rendering it useless if it ever switchs-out, yes, it's fast, bulky and strong but it got a small amount of coverage and the meta is heavily prepared to handle strong fighting types thanks to Tusk and Valiant (
Edit: Changed my mind about Lillie, it's definitely OU material, was comparing some calcs for shits and giggles and it's CC with a band was just a bit stronger than Band Tusk and then I realized I didn't invest it... Lillie is legit fire, it almost makes the miss chance wortwhile.
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Those of you doubting that Goodra-H is OU and can stay there, Goodra-H can tank hits and is actually quite hard to switch into. (Hot dang, this was hard to switch into whenever I fought it in post-HOME tours, and it often forced out whichever of my mons it switched into.) Assuming this partial set for Goodra-H:
Goodra-Hisui @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 196 Def / 32 SpA
Relaxed Nature
Noting these defensive calcs:
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 196+ Def Goodra-Hisui: 296-350 (81.5 - 96.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Ursaluna Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 196+ Def Goodra-Hisui: 288-338 (79.3 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This is what Goodra-H can do to switch-ins:
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Valiant: 290-344 (100.3 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 202-238 (50.6 - 59.6%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Enamorus: 356-420 (123.1 - 145.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 156-184 (49.5 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
196+ Def Goodra-Hisui Body Press vs. 236 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 238-282 (54.8 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ursaluna: 186-220 (40.1 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ursaluna: 172-204 (37.1 - 44%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 204+ Def Hatterene: 206-246 (64.7 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 338-402 (104 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 192-228 (65.5 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 208-246 (70.9 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ceruledge: 180-212 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Skeledirge: 148-176 (36 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 284-336 (87.9 - 104%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hoopa-Unbound: 135-160 (44.8 - 53.1%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Thunderbolt vs. 116 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 174-206 (47 - 55.6%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 102-122 (33.5 - 40.1%) -- 30.2% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
And it has Dragon Tail so it can phaze anything annoying enough anyway (e.g. Ting-Lu). Note that the Fairies don't really like their Goodra-H match-up and especially do not want to switch in.
Obviously, Goodra-H can't have all these moves at once, but switch into the wrong move in the early game and you just might have lost a mon.
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Oh yeah, part of why Sneasler isn't immediately broken and probably contributed to all-pre-HOME mons teams winning Tours Plaza Post-HOME OU tours more than half the time from what I tracked:
Unless you have Acrobatics or you Tera, you have nothing super-effective for Great Tusk that hits it back hard enough. Great Tusk OHKOes back and you can't OHKO Great Tusk with the Choice Bander (and you can see Unburden sets from a mile away in team preview unless they're White Herb, which need to stay in for a turn and get outsped by Dragapult, Greninja, Meowscarada, and Choice Scarfers during that crucial turn):
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 255-301 (68.7 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 127-150 (34.2 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Aerial Ace vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 170-202 (45.8 - 54.4%) -- 47.7% chance to 2HKO
4 SpA Sneasler Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 144-170 (38.8 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Sneasler: 408-482 (135.5 - 160.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
So the Choice user U-turns. On every single Great Tusk. And the Poison Touch set-up sweeper is stuck switching out or U-turning (or Terastallizing), too. Now you're not spamming U-turn on consecutive turns with Sneasler on any mon ever, so the fact that the Poison Touch hax is only 30% really starts to bite, especially on average over many games.
Other Ground-types not weak to Close Combat are easier to break through, but the odds aren't in your favour (unless you go Adamant for the Garchomp match-up), and of course the Landorus(-any) match-up sucks:
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 306-361 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 161-189 (50.4 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 161-189 (50.4 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Clodsire: 219-258 (47.3 - 55.7%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
And you need Adamant to guaranteed OHKO most Ting-Lu, as Jolly's doing this while Ting-Lu OHKOes back:
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 482-570 (93.7 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Sneasler: 350-414 (116.2 - 137.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is what no Ice Punch does to Sneasler. The Ground-types not weak to Fighting (except arguably Clodsire) check it too well and even discourage it from Dire Clawing them in the 1-vs-1.
Goodra-Hisui @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 196 Def / 32 SpA
Relaxed Nature
Noting these defensive calcs:
252 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 196+ Def Goodra-Hisui: 296-350 (81.5 - 96.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Ursaluna Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 196+ Def Goodra-Hisui: 288-338 (79.3 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This is what Goodra-H can do to switch-ins:
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Valiant: 290-344 (100.3 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Corviknight: 202-238 (50.6 - 59.6%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Enamorus: 356-420 (123.1 - 145.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 156-184 (49.5 - 58.4%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
196+ Def Goodra-Hisui Body Press vs. 236 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 264-312 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk: 238-282 (54.8 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ursaluna: 186-220 (40.1 - 47.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Ursaluna: 172-204 (37.1 - 44%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 204+ Def Hatterene: 206-246 (64.7 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 338-402 (104 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 192-228 (65.5 - 77.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Meowscarada: 208-246 (70.9 - 83.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ceruledge: 180-212 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Skeledirge: 148-176 (36 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 284-336 (87.9 - 104%) -- 25% chance to OHKO
32 Atk Goodra-Hisui Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hoopa-Unbound: 135-160 (44.8 - 53.1%) -- 31.3% chance to 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Thunderbolt vs. 116 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 174-206 (47 - 55.6%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO
32 SpA Goodra-Hisui Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 102-122 (33.5 - 40.1%) -- 30.2% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
And it has Dragon Tail so it can phaze anything annoying enough anyway (e.g. Ting-Lu). Note that the Fairies don't really like their Goodra-H match-up and especially do not want to switch in.
Obviously, Goodra-H can't have all these moves at once, but switch into the wrong move in the early game and you just might have lost a mon.
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Oh yeah, part of why Sneasler isn't immediately broken and probably contributed to all-pre-HOME mons teams winning Tours Plaza Post-HOME OU tours more than half the time from what I tracked:
Unless you have Acrobatics or you Tera, you have nothing super-effective for Great Tusk that hits it back hard enough. Great Tusk OHKOes back and you can't OHKO Great Tusk with the Choice Bander (and you can see Unburden sets from a mile away in team preview unless they're White Herb, which need to stay in for a turn and get outsped by Dragapult, Greninja, Meowscarada, and Choice Scarfers during that crucial turn):
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 255-301 (68.7 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 127-150 (34.2 - 40.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sneasler Aerial Ace vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 170-202 (45.8 - 54.4%) -- 47.7% chance to 2HKO
4 SpA Sneasler Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 144-170 (38.8 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Great Tusk Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Sneasler: 408-482 (135.5 - 160.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
So the Choice user U-turns. On every single Great Tusk. And the Poison Touch set-up sweeper is stuck switching out or U-turning (or Terastallizing), too. Now you're not spamming U-turn on consecutive turns with Sneasler on any mon ever, so the fact that the Poison Touch hax is only 30% really starts to bite, especially on average over many games.
Other Ground-types not weak to Close Combat are easier to break through, but the odds aren't in your favour (unless you go Adamant for the Garchomp match-up), and of course the Landorus(-any) match-up sucks:
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 306-361 (85.7 - 101.1%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 161-189 (50.4 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Landorus: 161-189 (50.4 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Clodsire: 219-258 (47.3 - 55.7%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
And you need Adamant to guaranteed OHKO most Ting-Lu, as Jolly's doing this while Ting-Lu OHKOes back:
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasler Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 482-570 (93.7 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Ting-Lu Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Sneasler: 350-414 (116.2 - 137.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is what no Ice Punch does to Sneasler. The Ground-types not weak to Fighting (except arguably Clodsire) check it too well and even discourage it from Dire Clawing them in the 1-vs-1.
One point you're missing which is a big point, Grassy Surge. Meow does some thing better, but in reality if you want to spam Grassy Terrain, it'll probably be the best in doing that. The main point is I was comparing Arboliva to Rillaboom which my point is Rillaboom is much much much more usable in OU.
I see a lot of you are putting over half of these new pokemon into OU. I just wanted to remind you all that OU only has so much room, and is a usage-based tier. Sure, all these new pokemon could have a lot of cool traits that could make them threatening. However, do these pokemon seriously outclass the pokemon we already have, or will they just be lower tier options (looking at you samurott and kleavor)?
Likely not, but new toy syndrome would definitely hit hard on these ones.
PU Arcanine Hisui big dawg?!? Wydeer being anything other than PU?!? Overqwil in NU? RU MOLTRES GALAR?!?!?!?!?!?
Between takes like this and people arguing for Ubers Enamorus and Sneasler, people be dumb asf
zapdos is here to save ou
now all the meows and cinderaces and great tusks clicking u turn or knock off will be scared of90% 30% static!!!!!!!
on a real note zapdos is looking super good into current OU pool, it does well vs pex meow ace tusk valiant corv breloom etc.
as long as hurricane hits lmfao but just having flying/electric/fire coverage is stupidly good
and zapdos is looking like a real tusk counter as long as tusk isn't running some weird head smash shit
fun fact: 252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 248 HP / 220 Def Zapdos: 158-188 (41.2 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
FUCK TUSK HONESTLY
now all the meows and cinderaces and great tusks clicking u turn or knock off will be scared of
on a real note zapdos is looking super good into current OU pool, it does well vs pex meow ace tusk valiant corv breloom etc.
as long as hurricane hits lmfao but just having flying/electric/fire coverage is stupidly good
and zapdos is looking like a real tusk counter as long as tusk isn't running some weird head smash shit
fun fact: 252 Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 248 HP / 220 Def Zapdos: 158-188 (41.2 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
FUCK TUSK HONESTLY
I would note that if someone is committing to full Physical Hamurott (like for a CB or maybe a SD set or something) Razor Shell is marginally stronger than Aqua Cutter with a relevant-enough 50% Defense drop chance, which makes it a lot harder to switch into for mons that just-barely can take Samurott's moves. Even ignoring that, the tiny extra power is enough to 2HKO Defensive Tusk through Leftovers with a Layer of Spikes or tiny chip, which given Ceaseless Edge, is probably the Minimum scenario for a check on any turn besides the Otter's first one. This doesn't even require a boosting item like Expert Belt or Mystic Water, which obviously guarantee the 2HKO.
252 Atk Sharpness Samurott-Hisui Razor Shell vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk: 192-228 (44.2 - 52.5%) -- 75.4% chance to 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery
Hydro Pump is arguably still a notable option if you really want to nail Tusk, but given it's a Glue Mon without its own recovery, chipping it into that range above is probably still plenty viable, and the option can deter it entering even if you don't have the move (taking close to 50% is still steep for Tusk even if it wins the 1 v 1).
So to respond to a few assessments
In terms of actual usage I'm willing to agree enough on these, but I definitely see potential for them on Rain Teams (which aren't high usage but not irrelevant in OU either even with the Sun Boom) given decent bulk and Swift Swim with their offenses (Basc-F is the first Special SS option we've had since Kingdra, aside from the improved but niche Golduck). Speed isn't as impressive as Floatzel for Nuclear Wave Crashes, but under Rain it's at least enough to outrun the important Benchmark of Booster Valiant and +1/BE Roaring Moon (potential Revengers). Not like you have to click too many moves into Resists if you maintain the weather
Tier: RU, Last Respects Ubers (don't listen to the OU Room on Showdown saying Basculegion will be the one banned and not LR. It would be embarrassing for Smogon to do that)
Explanation: Without Last Respects, Male Basculegion is really outclassed honestly. Its comparable to Crawdaunt, except that it has a much worse movepool. Your options for physical ghost STAB are LR, Phantom Force, and Tera Blast Ghost. That's pretty detrimental for Basculegion's viability as now it has to Tera for good secondary STAB outside of Ubers. Between those options you have Psychic Fang, Head Smash with recoil, Crunch, Ice Fang, and Double-Edge. Pretty poor choice outside of spamming Wave Crashes. Also no Sword Dance or Dragon Dance too. Still RU because Crawdaunt isn't in the game and would likely be UU or even OU if it was.
Tier: UU
Explanation: Much better movepool than its male counterpart. Female version at least has usable Ghost moves to use besides the banworthy move. It has less type coverage, but Ice Beam is always great and is more impressive given Basculegion's type.
252 Atk Choice Band Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur in Rain: 212-250 (57.1 - 67.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult in Rain: 252-297 (79.4 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Basculegion Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon in Rain: 263-310 (74.9 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Not too much to argue here, though minor notes are that Thundurus lost a major form of competition in the absence of Tapu Koko which probably contributed heavily (not solely, but heavily) to its lack of usage last Gen. Also besides Ice and Water Tera Blast, I would note the option for Flying Tera on Thundurus, since it needs the move but gets "Super STAB" off the natural typing, and Flying Typing would go a long way with a lot of the new mons in tandem with his Electric STAB for things like Volcarona (Tera Water no safer than Base type into this) or breaking past Amoongus.
Tier: UUBL
Explanation: Thundurus-I was UUBL last gen, and only thing that changed is that it gets Ice and Water coverage again in Tera Blast (though has Grass Knot, which may be preferred), and got a new signature move that's like special electric version of stone edge with a paralysis effect. It's ehh. Too strong for UU but I don't see it doing much in OU either with Ting-Lu, Great Tusk, and plenty of strong priority around.
Most of the above probably ties into Thundurus-T as much as Thundurus-I, with the added caveat that the harder-defined Speed tiers might make Prankster T-Wave a more useful Tool for the latter and also downplay the former's speed loss as a Wallbreaker (101 is enough to outspeed +Speed Great Tusk even with a Modest Nature, to troll the noted Trolly Speed Tier)
Zapdos-G probably isn't going to be too perturbed by offensive Gholdengo since it tends to be a U-Turn pivot, and the old Choice Band set does this to it without Tera. Most of the other notes are reasonable enough, though I think it does miss the presence of Defog and Intimidators given it only has one ability option in Defiant.
Tier: UUBL/OU
Explanation: Gapdos is definitely a strong Pokemon, however Gapdos suffers a bit after losing Dark coverage. This coverage is pretty significant as Gapdos now only has Stomping Tantrum as a means to hit Gholdango. So it's in a pickle where it's bad against Gholdango, but with its typing pretty good against Great Tusk not running Ice Spinner. It additionally has to compete with Great Tusk and Iron Valiant as the Fighting type on a team, which I think it can compete now that is has Trailblaze + Bulk up. We'll have to see.
252 Atk Choice Band Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gholdengo: 149-176 (47.3 - 55.8%) -- 79.3% chance to 2HKO
That said it will very much need Trailblaze or some other support for its less than spectacular Speed at Base 100, though Fighting/Flying is phenomenal enough neutral coverage to leave a lot of Tera options open for it.
Zarude is intriguing because his defensive profile feels like his match-up on several mons will be down to their specific sets:
Tier: UU/OU
Explanation: Zarude is an excellent Pokemon and greatly benefits from Tera. It has basically the perfect stat distribution got a Pokemon with 600 BST and isn't ridiculously minmaxed. Its typing is like Tyranitar's where it's surprisingly good defensively despite the massive weaknesses, though those weakness still exist and are prominent. Whether its UU or OU, we'll have to see, but it'll still be great in OU anyways.
- He fears Fighting obviously but otherwise runs circles around any Great Tusk without CC or Body Press (which aren't uncommon choices to see used or left off a set of late).
- Takes most moves from a Band or Booster-Speed Roaring Moon surprisingly alright while being able to hit back decently hard with Grass or Dark STAB if Moon has Tera'd and/or he has his own
- 220 Atk Tera Flying Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Dark Zarude: 178-210 (50.7 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Gholdengo needs FB or a Specs/Boosted MiR to KO 0/0 Zarude, while getting decked by Crunch Un-Tera'd
- 5 Allies Kingambit clocks 60-71% with Iron Head and nothing special with Sucker Punch, but wins the match-up overall unless Zarude found room for Fighting Coverage
- Garg basically comes down to if it picked Tera Fairy or Water/Ghost which are weak to STABs (though on Ghost, Crunch still needs a DEF drop or an item for Zarude to 2HKO and outpace Recover.
- Skeledirge actually takes a respectable amount of damage from Crunch before Tera Fairy and Power Whip after Tera, so while relatively safe and threatening it does become a prediction game instead of a hard check.
- 252 Atk Zarude Power Whip vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Tera Fairy Skeledirge: 186-219 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 32% chance to 2HKO
- While many in general pack a secondary STAB or Dangerous Coverage, Choiced Ghost Spam has to watch what moves they throw around since Shadow Ball is free entry. At the same time their other moves can present opportunities to exploit for other Pokemon so there is a need to weigh options
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zarude: 84-100 (23.9 - 28.4%) -- 97.4% chance to 4HKO
- 252 SpA Choice Specs Zoroark-Hisui Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zarude: 99-117 (28.2 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zarude: 114-134 (32.4 - 38.1%) -- 96.7% chance to 3HK
Rambled particularly long on the last one, surprised how much I had to say about a mon that might not even make OU by usage.
Part of it is new toy syndrome since several of these Pokemon haven't been in OU in a while (or before in the case of the Hisui additions). The other part I think is just observing a lot of these mons do have OU potential even if they obviously can't all reach it simultaneously, so helpful to observe how best to use them so people can play with them and see which ones pan out vs not.
Do I count as not-dumb for Sneasler if I'm arguing more because I want it playable in a tier vs banned to Uber-Limbo, rather than knowing it's not broken (I mean I don't think it is but I'm not the strongest at arguing it)?
Flip-side I don't care about its viability/broken-ness, I just want Enamorus in Ubers so I don't have to look at its hideous design. That said, 106 Speed with those Fairy offenses are good, but it's honestly nothing we aren't already dealing with in the form of Valiant, nor is that Speed/Power with low bulk something we aren't used to from Zoroark-H.
Given its coverage I don't think Enamorus-I, if it were broken, would be on the back of Contrary, since it can't touch 2/3 of the Unaware Mons (Clodsire hates Zen Headbutt) without Tera, needs multiple Boosts to break something like Gholdengo without a SE Tera Blast, and lacks speed to get out a fairly revenge-able Speed tier (Specs Dragapult does 67.8% Minimum with Shadow Ball, as my usual benchmark for a fast-neutral Attack to eat). The thing that theoretically made old Contrary Sweepers so dangerous was that they could Snowball while doing what you'd probably focus on anyway by spamming certain strong moves. Contrary Enamorus is giving up its much superior movepool for lackluster coverage and/or your Tera commitment and has to boost with a move that isn't very strong for it until it has some boosts under its belt (meaning it doesn't "save" a set-up turn like you'd think), at which point I'd just say run Calm Mind Special Boosters. It's not even like it compresses Boosting and Coverage because Enamorus has so few Physical attacks and they don't provide it much additional coverage in Gen 9 OU.
Compare something in Past-Gens like Serperior, which similarly had limited coverage, but a slightly more effective Speed Tier (Granted in this Gen that only outruns non-Boosted Iron Moth), Utility moves to put in work before a Sweep or Break through too-fat Opponents (Leech Seed, Glare, Decent usage of Substitute), and a much more threatening "main Boosting" move in Leaf Storm (Stronger at +0 on their respective "Boosting Move" while snowballing faster)
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tera Normal Mew: 148-175 (43.4 - 51.3%) -- 6.6% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Enamorus Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Water Mew: 120-142 (35.1 - 41.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Serperior was A- in USUM Viability last I checked, so respectable but no where near the thing shaping teams (granted Gen 7 OU is the Wild West).
I don't doubt Enamorus has strong potential as an OU presence, but whatever tier it ends up in, it ain't gonna be for Superpower shenanigans. I predict the move at best serves as a Mixed option to break through particular targets on a Special Wallbreaker set akin to how Valiant runs Close Combat (for what targets beyond Kingambit I'd have to see). Contrary might still be useful for things like avoiding stray SpD drops on Shadow Balls or such but it doesn't feel like enough to build the mon around in this case.
Compare something in Past-Gens like Serperior, which similarly had limited coverage, but a slightly more effective Speed Tier (Granted in this Gen that only outruns non-Boosted Iron Moth), Utility moves to put in work before a Sweep or Break through too-fat Opponents (Leech Seed, Glare, Decent usage of Substitute), and a much more threatening "main Boosting" move in Leaf Storm (Stronger at +0 on their respective "Boosting Move" while snowballing faster)
252 SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tera Normal Mew: 148-175 (43.4 - 51.3%) -- 6.6% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Enamorus Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Water Mew: 120-142 (35.1 - 41.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Serperior was A- in USUM Viability last I checked, so respectable but no where near the thing shaping teams (granted Gen 7 OU is the Wild West).
I don't doubt Enamorus has strong potential as an OU presence, but whatever tier it ends up in, it ain't gonna be for Superpower shenanigans. I predict the move at best serves as a Mixed option to break through particular targets on a Special Wallbreaker set akin to how Valiant runs Close Combat (for what targets beyond Kingambit I'd have to see). Contrary might still be useful for things like avoiding stray SpD drops on Shadow Balls or such but it doesn't feel like enough to build the mon around in this case.
Is Rilla that bad because it lost Glide? I really doubt that the only viable surge user (for now) with a pivoting move, knock off and a hard hitting STAB that forces defensive monsters like Dondozo, Garganacl and maybe Clodsire to tera will be anywhere lower then OU.
It could be UU / UU BL but in reality it will be used in OU regardless it being in UU. Really hard to predict but I'm very certain that it will have a nice niche in OU.
Extremely common NJNP W, ban garganacl train is back on the menu boysDid a discussion video discussing Garganacl's current place in the OU Metagame. Hopefully, you guys enjoy
ok so I specify HO because of a few reasons
1. Sometimes you just get forced out and you have something that's better in that scenario (i.e. Sash H-Zoro) but you can come back in later
2. Sometimes a +1 boost isn't fast enough. Like against scarf pult or booster energy iron valiant you need the additional speed
3. Fiery Dance + Dazzling Gleam + Psychic is generally good enough coverage. I miss Energy Ball sometimes but I can also deal with the Energy Ball targets with other members of my team.
https://pokepast.es/69ca327a23d9745d
Great video; I'll leave a comment on the video itself shortly, but your demonstrating the rising usage of Tera Water Garg is one of the reasons why I've lately been gravitating and posting about using Pokemon like Breloom, Decidueye, and Electrode (writing another one of my huge posts on Electrode soon).Did a discussion video discussing Garganacl's current place in the OU Metagame. Hopefully, you guys enjoy
Base Rock (or even Rock with certain secondaries) + Tera together is scary in of itself, but Garg is so perfectly synergistic with its succinctly tailored stats/movepool that it is just a nature pressure extruder. I feel like Pokemon Home will drop several mons that can pressure it more, but until then Garg is going to keep getting explored and diversified more and more
- Status