November Blue
A universe where hot chips don't exist :(
The Substitute that dropped Garchomp into pinch range could still be intact, which would protect it from priority.
One Pokemon that is absolutely amazing in this tier is SubCM Latias. She has singlehandedly won me games. The Speed advantage is great, and she isn't OHKOed by Chandelure's Shadow Ball, even at +0 Special Defense.
Breloom is great too. That Mach Punch OHKOes absolutely everything.
Anyway, I just got into DW recently, have been playing for a few days, reached 1200ish on the ladder, tried stuff ect.
So far, I'm leaning towards not broken for both Blaziken and Chandelure. I tried the kickin' chicken myself, paired it with a Baton Pass recipient Dragonite (which proved to be a horrifyingly powerful strategy). Even though its power is devastating and it can reach insane Speed levels while it does its stuff, Blaziken is kept in check by its defensive faults. 259 - 388 Speed is still fairly slow in this metagame, and almost every Choice Scarf user can outspeed it. It has plenty of checks, which include Pokemon that resist its dual STAB moves, such as Dragonite, Jellicent, Latias, as well as Gliscor, Protect users, and Ghost-types.
Even though Blaziken can eliminate all of its counters under sun, is this really a valid point? Sand is so dominant right now and Tyranitar is everywhere due to Chandelure, plus rain teams are the next best option, leaving sun in the somewhat dubious basket. Sure, you can run sun and kill everything with boosted Flare Blitzes (read: two Pokemon before Blaziken succumbs to recoil) but it's not common enough to be used as a legitimate reason for banning it.
I know that recoil damage from Flare Blitz and Life Orb isn't enough to cut short Blaziken's sweep (having used it for a while, this seems like an anecdote, not a fact) and though Hi Jump Kick can miss with disastrous results, most players can play around Ghost-types and Protect users to avoid this, and the 90% accuracy is pretty reliable. However, priority is pretty common, and this recoil does leave Blaziken vulnerable to revenge kills with priority moves (Breloom, Dragonite ect.) It's also vulnerable to Spikes, Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave Thundurus, Choice Scarf users...
While Blaziken is powerful, the factors that push it over the edge (sun, a successful Pass ect.) are somewhat uncommon, and difficult to pull off due to its frailty and the current metagame, which might be overpreparing for it. Inversely, the factors that keep Blaziken in check are all fairly common, which balances it out somewhat. Though Baton Pass is a powerful asset, some of the brokenness must be attributed to the recipient, as a badly made team will not be able to take advantage of the payload as well as a good team could.
As for Chandelure, I've been using a team that lacks both Tyranitar and Stealth Rock, and I've managed to handle it just fine. I'm not entirely sold one way or the other yet, but if I were to prepare for Chandelure a little more, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with it at all. You can deal with it by carrying bloody Tyranitar of all things. No extreme measures, no obscure sets, just one of the best Pokemon in the current metagame.
Honestly, I find Ditto to be much worse than any of these Pokemon. Damn thing is a nightmare.
One Pokemon that is absolutely amazing in this tier is SubCM Latias. She has singlehandedly won me games. The Speed advantage is great, and she isn't OHKOed by Chandelure's Shadow Ball, even at +0 Special Defense.
Breloom is great too. That Mach Punch OHKOes absolutely everything.
Anyway, I just got into DW recently, have been playing for a few days, reached 1200ish on the ladder, tried stuff ect.
So far, I'm leaning towards not broken for both Blaziken and Chandelure. I tried the kickin' chicken myself, paired it with a Baton Pass recipient Dragonite (which proved to be a horrifyingly powerful strategy). Even though its power is devastating and it can reach insane Speed levels while it does its stuff, Blaziken is kept in check by its defensive faults. 259 - 388 Speed is still fairly slow in this metagame, and almost every Choice Scarf user can outspeed it. It has plenty of checks, which include Pokemon that resist its dual STAB moves, such as Dragonite, Jellicent, Latias, as well as Gliscor, Protect users, and Ghost-types.
Even though Blaziken can eliminate all of its counters under sun, is this really a valid point? Sand is so dominant right now and Tyranitar is everywhere due to Chandelure, plus rain teams are the next best option, leaving sun in the somewhat dubious basket. Sure, you can run sun and kill everything with boosted Flare Blitzes (read: two Pokemon before Blaziken succumbs to recoil) but it's not common enough to be used as a legitimate reason for banning it.
I know that recoil damage from Flare Blitz and Life Orb isn't enough to cut short Blaziken's sweep (having used it for a while, this seems like an anecdote, not a fact) and though Hi Jump Kick can miss with disastrous results, most players can play around Ghost-types and Protect users to avoid this, and the 90% accuracy is pretty reliable. However, priority is pretty common, and this recoil does leave Blaziken vulnerable to revenge kills with priority moves (Breloom, Dragonite ect.) It's also vulnerable to Spikes, Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave Thundurus, Choice Scarf users...
While Blaziken is powerful, the factors that push it over the edge (sun, a successful Pass ect.) are somewhat uncommon, and difficult to pull off due to its frailty and the current metagame, which might be overpreparing for it. Inversely, the factors that keep Blaziken in check are all fairly common, which balances it out somewhat. Though Baton Pass is a powerful asset, some of the brokenness must be attributed to the recipient, as a badly made team will not be able to take advantage of the payload as well as a good team could.
As for Chandelure, I've been using a team that lacks both Tyranitar and Stealth Rock, and I've managed to handle it just fine. I'm not entirely sold one way or the other yet, but if I were to prepare for Chandelure a little more, I don't think I'd have much of a problem with it at all. You can deal with it by carrying bloody Tyranitar of all things. No extreme measures, no obscure sets, just one of the best Pokemon in the current metagame.
Honestly, I find Ditto to be much worse than any of these Pokemon. Damn thing is a nightmare.