I've been playing a lot of Godly Gift lately and had some thoughts about a couple pokemon.
I have never been so viscerally torn on a single pokemon as much as I am torn Iron Hands. I love Spdef sets with all my heart. So often does it feel like a ground type has to take the Spdef slot, usually something like Ting Lu or one of the Donphan paradoxes to take on pokemon like Miraidon and sometimes Eternatus. Iron Hands can pick up the slack to free you up to use other things, like offensive Ground types or being able to invest heavily in a ground type's Physical Defense without splitting your EVs. It can also handle H-Electrode and a massive slurry of other special attack inheritors. It can also take on Gods the grounds couldn't dream of like Palkia and even Kyogre depending on the generosity of it's spdef donation and/or it's tera type, which is absolutely relieving in the builder. On the other side of the coin...... Speed Iron Hands. Take the highest speed donation you can find, Get Quarked up, and take free games. Its too tall a task to revenge kill it with it already blitzing most scarfers off any particularly decent speed donation combined with it's bulk, but it's also very strong and can circumvent a lot of bulky checks with the right coverage, tera type, and even switching up it's item if it's getting the boost from Miraidon's Electric Terrain rather than it's own Booster Energy as a one-man band. It really feels like depending on which slot this pokemon is in, it's either a godsend or the devil incarnate. I would trade Booster Energy and Miraidon both to keep the perks of the spdef hands around in a heartbeat but I don't know how hot of a take that is.
Actually I lied, Iron Hands isn't the only pokemon I'm torn on. I also really like Hatterene. It can very often feel like an uphill battle to clear hazards, there's not that many good spinners outside of the ol reliable Donphan paradoxes, Maushold is frail and doesn't usually wear boots (And sometimes is such a menace that you'd rather save it for a sweep than sack it for some hazard control), and Defoggers that even touch an HP slot Gholdengo without tera or just being Giratina (a god with very hit or miss stat passes mind you) is basically a fever dream. This means any hazard setter that bullies the time traveling Elephants basically has open range over a game. This is why I like taking hazard preventative measures rather than going through the old cycle of letting them get set and clearing. Fast Taunts, sending in powerful choice mons early to scare off setters, and here we go, Magic Bounce. I'm absolutely intoxicated by Hatterene. About 80% of my teams use HP slot Hatterene purely for it's ability to prevent hazards. I often even team it up with removers mentioned above to consistently create a super safe board state to really let pokemon go to town without getting worn down. Sometimes I don't even use calm mind, I've tried the eject button healing wish one (Based on that one OU set) to constantly let in devastating, full health breakers to a hazardless field over the course of a long game. But unfortunately, Hatterene also has it's demons. I'll keep it quick and simple, the calm mind one just wins games. Its damn near unstoppable when it terastalizes, parrying counters and inheriting great defensive types with a ton of neutralities. Godly Gift has such a contrast between the bulkiest pokemon I've ever seen and the strongest pokemon I've ever seen and Hatterene walks over both things with just an HP boost and a few calm minds.
I could have talked about the pokemon I think are blatantly broken or unfun but I thought it would be interesting to bring up two pokemon that I simultaneously love AND hate to a degree I never really have in a tier before.
I have never been so viscerally torn on a single pokemon as much as I am torn Iron Hands. I love Spdef sets with all my heart. So often does it feel like a ground type has to take the Spdef slot, usually something like Ting Lu or one of the Donphan paradoxes to take on pokemon like Miraidon and sometimes Eternatus. Iron Hands can pick up the slack to free you up to use other things, like offensive Ground types or being able to invest heavily in a ground type's Physical Defense without splitting your EVs. It can also handle H-Electrode and a massive slurry of other special attack inheritors. It can also take on Gods the grounds couldn't dream of like Palkia and even Kyogre depending on the generosity of it's spdef donation and/or it's tera type, which is absolutely relieving in the builder. On the other side of the coin...... Speed Iron Hands. Take the highest speed donation you can find, Get Quarked up, and take free games. Its too tall a task to revenge kill it with it already blitzing most scarfers off any particularly decent speed donation combined with it's bulk, but it's also very strong and can circumvent a lot of bulky checks with the right coverage, tera type, and even switching up it's item if it's getting the boost from Miraidon's Electric Terrain rather than it's own Booster Energy as a one-man band. It really feels like depending on which slot this pokemon is in, it's either a godsend or the devil incarnate. I would trade Booster Energy and Miraidon both to keep the perks of the spdef hands around in a heartbeat but I don't know how hot of a take that is.
Actually I lied, Iron Hands isn't the only pokemon I'm torn on. I also really like Hatterene. It can very often feel like an uphill battle to clear hazards, there's not that many good spinners outside of the ol reliable Donphan paradoxes, Maushold is frail and doesn't usually wear boots (And sometimes is such a menace that you'd rather save it for a sweep than sack it for some hazard control), and Defoggers that even touch an HP slot Gholdengo without tera or just being Giratina (a god with very hit or miss stat passes mind you) is basically a fever dream. This means any hazard setter that bullies the time traveling Elephants basically has open range over a game. This is why I like taking hazard preventative measures rather than going through the old cycle of letting them get set and clearing. Fast Taunts, sending in powerful choice mons early to scare off setters, and here we go, Magic Bounce. I'm absolutely intoxicated by Hatterene. About 80% of my teams use HP slot Hatterene purely for it's ability to prevent hazards. I often even team it up with removers mentioned above to consistently create a super safe board state to really let pokemon go to town without getting worn down. Sometimes I don't even use calm mind, I've tried the eject button healing wish one (Based on that one OU set) to constantly let in devastating, full health breakers to a hazardless field over the course of a long game. But unfortunately, Hatterene also has it's demons. I'll keep it quick and simple, the calm mind one just wins games. Its damn near unstoppable when it terastalizes, parrying counters and inheriting great defensive types with a ton of neutralities. Godly Gift has such a contrast between the bulkiest pokemon I've ever seen and the strongest pokemon I've ever seen and Hatterene walks over both things with just an HP boost and a few calm minds.
I could have talked about the pokemon I think are blatantly broken or unfun but I thought it would be interesting to bring up two pokemon that I simultaneously love AND hate to a degree I never really have in a tier before.
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