(Don't question why I know Still Dre)
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Format Discussion Metronome Battle
- Thread starter Ivy
- Start date
(Don't question why I know Still Dre)
So here's something absolutely shitty for ya
Cresselia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Venusaur-Mega @ Choice Band
Ability: Flower Veil
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Yea this is.... oppressive. Flower Veil is obsurd, and Cresselia is fat. Not much else to say
https://pokepast.es/9f12cf041625b46a
Cresselia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Venusaur-Mega @ Choice Band
Ability: Flower Veil
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Yea this is.... oppressive. Flower Veil is obsurd, and Cresselia is fat. Not much else to say
https://pokepast.es/9f12cf041625b46a
Happy June! The usage stats for May are out, and as the northern summer equinox arrives and the HOME compatibility for SV finally arises, Metronome Battle is still gaining new options as well. Will the new trend of legal Hisuian pokemon across Showdown lower the appeal or reinvigorate the usage trend? Only time will tell.
A new CAP was added recently and is now usable, the unique Fire/Fairy type Hemogoblin. By design, it has slightly below average stats of 90/99/89/99/97/55 (529 BST), but fortunately its speed being weak is an acceptable trade off for this format. Fire/Fairy is actually a relatively solid defensive type combination with the synergy of both types being able to share their good resistances without much conflict, so it's probably ideal to avoid terastallizing to make the most out of it especially since there is no other Fire/Fairy mon. On the defensive side, it has 8 advantageous matchups by resisting Bug, Dark, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, and Ice, while also being immune to Dragon. It has a few scattered weaknesses to Rock, Ground, Water, and Poison though, which is in a mixed spot where it makes Weakness Policy a viable choice but not the most likely to activate compared to the usual Grass type users. Just on paper, I think trying to go all in on bulk and relying on resistances to survive may be the key to working with this mon.
This month's battle count hit 55865, and continuing with the trend of last month not changing much, this is only 6 less than last month's 55871, which is still relatively high.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Ting-Lu (#2)
#2: Mega Venusaur (#1)
#3: Mega Heracross (no change)
#4: Glastrier (no change)
#5: Blissey (#6)
#6: Mega Ampharos (#5)
#7: Hisuian Zoroark (#17)
#8: Baxcalibur (#11)
#9: Mega Sableye (no change)
#10: Iron Hands (#20)
Upsets have been made in the top 10 for this month. Heracross has barely managed to overtake Venusaur for most raw usage (10723 vs 10614), with both just above 10000 which is an improvement for Heracross and a fall for Venusaur compared to last month's 15733. However, Ting-Lu has risen over both former kings of the hill to retake the #1 spot. Even with less raw usage (7970) than the megas, it's still #4 overall just behind Hisuian Zoroark (9227), who is also notable for returning to the top 10 and taking its highest spot ever this month, despite usually having a consistent high raw usage. Other such major risers/returners include Baxcalibur slowly but steadily making an impact, and Iron Hands who is actually kind of a dark horse here with only 1076 raw usage compared to everyone else, and just beating out Mega Gengar in #11 with 5286 raw usage.
Some other dark horses of the month include the literal dark types Tyranitar (#27/744 uses) and Guzzlord (#32/967 uses), mainly because they have triple digit uses but are still going pretty strong with their bulky builds, as well as Mega Slowbro (#12/1462 uses) falling short of the top 10 but still a threat in its own right that I'll discuss later on. Meanwhile, Mew and Snorlax remain in the exact same positions as last month, their archetypes going unchanging as vanilla but solid Metronome users for new players, and in a similar vein Enamorus-T and Landorus-T have been next to each other as well. One miracle of raw usage I just noticed writing this is that Glastrier and Blissey have the exact same amount of raw usage, but I guess that just goes to show how much better Glastrier has been over Blissey, even when Blissey is the one rising up.
Moving over to the moveset file, I want to take a closer look at the recent risers and what they're doing differently. Ting-Lu's Unaware and Magic Bounce weighted usage has dropped from about a combined 58% to 35%, while Pickup rises from 6% to 14%, Mummy from 6% to 9%, and Ice Scales making a new appearance with 8%. It seems like item choices rank about the same, and Ting-Lu's teammates are pretty varied with Glastrier still leading, though Heracross teammates have made an upsurge over even double Ting-Lu.
Hisuian Zoroark seems to be succeeding most with Magic Bounce and Good as Gold to protect against status while its type handles the common attacks it will take. The item pool is still a complete mess with almost any item you could think of in the mix, but the dominant items seem to be Mirror Herb, Choice Specs, and Normalium Z. Hasty and Hardy are top picks for EV spreads at about 70% combined weighting, which all goes to show that Hisuian Zoroark is a real wild card pick and you may not know what kind of person you're facing with it. Its teammates are also pretty varied, with Venusaur, Sableye, double Hisuian Zoroark, Ting-Lu, and Landorus-T making up the top 5 picks. I guess having a partner to attacks off of you is one way to make it survive a little longer.
Baxcalibur is partly named after Excalibur, the iconic sword of King Arthur in mythology, and its ability choices stay true to the legend with the most common being Sword of Ruin and Intrepid Sword, with also some Defiant following closely in 3rd. It's clear that Baxcalibur is going all in on its Attack stat and the item choices follow through as well with Choice Band predominantly leading with 59% usage, rather far ahead of Mirror Herb's 21% usage and leaving the rest of the single digit items behind. To carry on this legacy of strength, Baxcalibur takes on a Brave nature (~45%) almost doubly more than Adamant (~23%), and teams up with fellow heroic warriors like Mega Gallade, Iron Hands, and Silvally-Ghost.
Iron Hands itself is still mostly Galvanizing with Mega Ampharos but with Baxcalibur as a common comrade now. Other ability choices include Intrepid Sword, Good as Gold, Sword of Ruin, and Scrappy, but one thing is for certain than Choice Band is the item of choice with a universally agreed 91% usage.
Going through the viability ceilings (the highest GXE that a player using that pokemon has reached), we see the peaks staying around 81 starting with the #1 Ting-Lu and also Mega Slowbro who isn't far off in 12th and is still overperforming as I mentioned earlier, who has Ting-Lu as a main teammate with 56% usage. Slowbro is still primarily running Unaware/WP like last month, but to a lesser degree as Purifying Salt has actually risen up to about 18% usage out of nowhere, which I guess would defend against a weakness and common status that could wear Slowbro down. The next viability ceiling is 80 with Glastrier (Intrepid Sword/Refrigerate/Simple/Magic Guard and WP/Band/Mirror Herb/Life Orb as scattered picks above 10%) and Mega Ampharos (Competitive/Hadron Engine/Plus and Specs/Herb as the higher picks) with the Iron Hands combo being its primary teammate (18%), but not by as a large margin as Slowbro.
The last few viability ceilings to round it out will be 79 featuring Blissey (classic Imposter) and Dragapult, who is still pretty varied but seems to be mainly running Fluffy/Competitive/Good as Gold with Mirror Herb and Chioce Band being main items and Normalium Z slightly behind. Lastly, at 78 we have a 3-way tie of the classic meta mons in Mega Venusaur, Mega Heracross, and Necturna, who are all mostly up to the same tricks. Necturna still seems to be mainly based on the Thick Fat sample set, but even Primordial Sea has more usage than Flower Veil which I didn't see coming.
Interestingly Mega Venusaur's teammates are very varied but double Venusaur still beats out Ting-Lu and sample Necturna. Heracross is the same way with double Heracross over Ting-Lu as the most common picks, and with Ampharos in 3rd it goes to show that Heracross doesn't really care what its partner is. Meanwhile, Necturna has a 70% Venusaur partner rate, mainly due to the forementioned classic sample team from the thread OP, but also has no visible Ting-Lu teammate, which goes to show how it seems to be perceived as less generalist than Venusaur and working more around Flower Veil than standing on its own. Thanks for your reading.
A new CAP was added recently and is now usable, the unique Fire/Fairy type Hemogoblin. By design, it has slightly below average stats of 90/99/89/99/97/55 (529 BST), but fortunately its speed being weak is an acceptable trade off for this format. Fire/Fairy is actually a relatively solid defensive type combination with the synergy of both types being able to share their good resistances without much conflict, so it's probably ideal to avoid terastallizing to make the most out of it especially since there is no other Fire/Fairy mon. On the defensive side, it has 8 advantageous matchups by resisting Bug, Dark, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, and Ice, while also being immune to Dragon. It has a few scattered weaknesses to Rock, Ground, Water, and Poison though, which is in a mixed spot where it makes Weakness Policy a viable choice but not the most likely to activate compared to the usual Grass type users. Just on paper, I think trying to go all in on bulk and relying on resistances to survive may be the key to working with this mon.
This month's battle count hit 55865, and continuing with the trend of last month not changing much, this is only 6 less than last month's 55871, which is still relatively high.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Ting-Lu (#2)
#2: Mega Venusaur (#1)
#3: Mega Heracross (no change)
#4: Glastrier (no change)
#5: Blissey (#6)
#6: Mega Ampharos (#5)
#7: Hisuian Zoroark (#17)
#8: Baxcalibur (#11)
#9: Mega Sableye (no change)
#10: Iron Hands (#20)
Upsets have been made in the top 10 for this month. Heracross has barely managed to overtake Venusaur for most raw usage (10723 vs 10614), with both just above 10000 which is an improvement for Heracross and a fall for Venusaur compared to last month's 15733. However, Ting-Lu has risen over both former kings of the hill to retake the #1 spot. Even with less raw usage (7970) than the megas, it's still #4 overall just behind Hisuian Zoroark (9227), who is also notable for returning to the top 10 and taking its highest spot ever this month, despite usually having a consistent high raw usage. Other such major risers/returners include Baxcalibur slowly but steadily making an impact, and Iron Hands who is actually kind of a dark horse here with only 1076 raw usage compared to everyone else, and just beating out Mega Gengar in #11 with 5286 raw usage.
Some other dark horses of the month include the literal dark types Tyranitar (#27/744 uses) and Guzzlord (#32/967 uses), mainly because they have triple digit uses but are still going pretty strong with their bulky builds, as well as Mega Slowbro (#12/1462 uses) falling short of the top 10 but still a threat in its own right that I'll discuss later on. Meanwhile, Mew and Snorlax remain in the exact same positions as last month, their archetypes going unchanging as vanilla but solid Metronome users for new players, and in a similar vein Enamorus-T and Landorus-T have been next to each other as well. One miracle of raw usage I just noticed writing this is that Glastrier and Blissey have the exact same amount of raw usage, but I guess that just goes to show how much better Glastrier has been over Blissey, even when Blissey is the one rising up.
Moving over to the moveset file, I want to take a closer look at the recent risers and what they're doing differently. Ting-Lu's Unaware and Magic Bounce weighted usage has dropped from about a combined 58% to 35%, while Pickup rises from 6% to 14%, Mummy from 6% to 9%, and Ice Scales making a new appearance with 8%. It seems like item choices rank about the same, and Ting-Lu's teammates are pretty varied with Glastrier still leading, though Heracross teammates have made an upsurge over even double Ting-Lu.
Hisuian Zoroark seems to be succeeding most with Magic Bounce and Good as Gold to protect against status while its type handles the common attacks it will take. The item pool is still a complete mess with almost any item you could think of in the mix, but the dominant items seem to be Mirror Herb, Choice Specs, and Normalium Z. Hasty and Hardy are top picks for EV spreads at about 70% combined weighting, which all goes to show that Hisuian Zoroark is a real wild card pick and you may not know what kind of person you're facing with it. Its teammates are also pretty varied, with Venusaur, Sableye, double Hisuian Zoroark, Ting-Lu, and Landorus-T making up the top 5 picks. I guess having a partner to attacks off of you is one way to make it survive a little longer.
Baxcalibur is partly named after Excalibur, the iconic sword of King Arthur in mythology, and its ability choices stay true to the legend with the most common being Sword of Ruin and Intrepid Sword, with also some Defiant following closely in 3rd. It's clear that Baxcalibur is going all in on its Attack stat and the item choices follow through as well with Choice Band predominantly leading with 59% usage, rather far ahead of Mirror Herb's 21% usage and leaving the rest of the single digit items behind. To carry on this legacy of strength, Baxcalibur takes on a Brave nature (~45%) almost doubly more than Adamant (~23%), and teams up with fellow heroic warriors like Mega Gallade, Iron Hands, and Silvally-Ghost.
Iron Hands itself is still mostly Galvanizing with Mega Ampharos but with Baxcalibur as a common comrade now. Other ability choices include Intrepid Sword, Good as Gold, Sword of Ruin, and Scrappy, but one thing is for certain than Choice Band is the item of choice with a universally agreed 91% usage.
Going through the viability ceilings (the highest GXE that a player using that pokemon has reached), we see the peaks staying around 81 starting with the #1 Ting-Lu and also Mega Slowbro who isn't far off in 12th and is still overperforming as I mentioned earlier, who has Ting-Lu as a main teammate with 56% usage. Slowbro is still primarily running Unaware/WP like last month, but to a lesser degree as Purifying Salt has actually risen up to about 18% usage out of nowhere, which I guess would defend against a weakness and common status that could wear Slowbro down. The next viability ceiling is 80 with Glastrier (Intrepid Sword/Refrigerate/Simple/Magic Guard and WP/Band/Mirror Herb/Life Orb as scattered picks above 10%) and Mega Ampharos (Competitive/Hadron Engine/Plus and Specs/Herb as the higher picks) with the Iron Hands combo being its primary teammate (18%), but not by as a large margin as Slowbro.
The last few viability ceilings to round it out will be 79 featuring Blissey (classic Imposter) and Dragapult, who is still pretty varied but seems to be mainly running Fluffy/Competitive/Good as Gold with Mirror Herb and Chioce Band being main items and Normalium Z slightly behind. Lastly, at 78 we have a 3-way tie of the classic meta mons in Mega Venusaur, Mega Heracross, and Necturna, who are all mostly up to the same tricks. Necturna still seems to be mainly based on the Thick Fat sample set, but even Primordial Sea has more usage than Flower Veil which I didn't see coming.
Interestingly Mega Venusaur's teammates are very varied but double Venusaur still beats out Ting-Lu and sample Necturna. Heracross is the same way with double Heracross over Ting-Lu as the most common picks, and with Ampharos in 3rd it goes to show that Heracross doesn't really care what its partner is. Meanwhile, Necturna has a 70% Venusaur partner rate, mainly due to the forementioned classic sample team from the thread OP, but also has no visible Ting-Lu teammate, which goes to show how it seems to be perceived as less generalist than Venusaur and working more around Flower Veil than standing on its own. Thanks for your reading.
You know, the biggest offenders I see are Heracross with immaculant physical damage, and Flower Veil. In Metronome Battles, you wanna limit counterplay such as using Ghost tera's and Good as Gold - but also have high damage output for an easier, less RNG based game. But those mons are just so common it's hard to justify other strats and monsHappy June! The usage stats for May are out, and as the northern summer equinox arrives and the HOME compatibility for SV finally arises, Metronome Battle is still gaining new options as well. Will the new trend of legal Hisuian pokemon across Showdown lower the appeal or reinvigorate the usage trend? Only time will tell.
A new CAP was added recently and is now usable, the unique Fire/Fairy type Hemogoblin. By design, it has slightly below average stats of 90/99/89/99/97/55 (529 BST), but fortunately its speed being weak is an acceptable trade off for this format. Fire/Fairy is actually a relatively solid defensive type combination with the synergy of both types being able to share their good resistances without much conflict, so it's probably ideal to avoid terastallizing to make the most out of it especially since there is no other Fire/Fairy mon. On the defensive side, it has 8 advantageous matchups by resisting Bug, Dark, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Grass, and Ice, while also being immune to Dragon. It has a few scattered weaknesses to Rock, Ground, Water, and Poison though, which is in a mixed spot where it makes Weakness Policy a viable choice but not the most likely to activate compared to the usual Grass type users. Just on paper, I think trying to go all in on bulk and relying on resistances to survive may be the key to working with this mon.
This month's battle count hit 55865, and continuing with the trend of last month not changing much, this is only 6 less than last month's 55871, which is still relatively high.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-05/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Ting-Lu (#2)
#2: Mega Venusaur (#1)
#3: Mega Heracross (no change)
#4: Glastrier (no change)
#5: Blissey (#6)
#6: Mega Ampharos (#5)
#7: Hisuian Zoroark (#17)
#8: Baxcalibur (#11)
#9: Mega Sableye (no change)
#10: Iron Hands (#20)
Upsets have been made in the top 10 for this month. Heracross has barely managed to overtake Venusaur for most raw usage (10723 vs 10614), with both just above 10000 which is an improvement for Heracross and a fall for Venusaur compared to last month's 15733. However, Ting-Lu has risen over both former kings of the hill to retake the #1 spot. Even with less raw usage (7970) than the megas, it's still #4 overall just behind Hisuian Zoroark (9227), who is also notable for returning to the top 10 and taking its highest spot ever this month, despite usually having a consistent high raw usage. Other such major risers/returners include Baxcalibur slowly but steadily making an impact, and Iron Hands who is actually kind of a dark horse here with only 1076 raw usage compared to everyone else, and just beating out Mega Gengar in #11 with 5286 raw usage.
Some other dark horses of the month include the literal dark types Tyranitar (#27/744 uses) and Guzzlord (#32/967 uses), mainly because they have triple digit uses but are still going pretty strong with their bulky builds, as well as Mega Slowbro (#12/1462 uses) falling short of the top 10 but still a threat in its own right that I'll discuss later on. Meanwhile, Mew and Snorlax remain in the exact same positions as last month, their archetypes going unchanging as vanilla but solid Metronome users for new players, and in a similar vein Enamorus-T and Landorus-T have been next to each other as well. One miracle of raw usage I just noticed writing this is that Glastrier and Blissey have the exact same amount of raw usage, but I guess that just goes to show how much better Glastrier has been over Blissey, even when Blissey is the one rising up.
View attachment 522172
Moving over to the moveset file, I want to take a closer look at the recent risers and what they're doing differently. Ting-Lu's Unaware and Magic Bounce weighted usage has dropped from about a combined 58% to 35%, while Pickup rises from 6% to 14%, Mummy from 6% to 9%, and Ice Scales making a new appearance with 8%. It seems like item choices rank about the same, and Ting-Lu's teammates are pretty varied with Glastrier still leading, though Heracross teammates have made an upsurge over even double Ting-Lu.
Hisuian Zoroark seems to be succeeding most with Magic Bounce and Good as Gold to protect against status while its type handles the common attacks it will take. The item pool is still a complete mess with almost any item you could think of in the mix, but the dominant items seem to be Mirror Herb, Choice Specs, and Normalium Z. Hasty and Hardy are top picks for EV spreads at about 70% combined weighting, which all goes to show that Hisuian Zoroark is a real wild card pick and you may not know what kind of person you're facing with it. Its teammates are also pretty varied, with Venusaur, Sableye, double Hisuian Zoroark, Ting-Lu, and Landorus-T making up the top 5 picks. I guess having a partner to attacks off of you is one way to make it survive a little longer.
View attachment 522179
Baxcalibur is partly named after Excalibur, the iconic sword of King Arthur in mythology, and its ability choices stay true to the legend with the most common being Sword of Ruin and Intrepid Sword, with also some Defiant following closely in 3rd. It's clear that Baxcalibur is going all in on its Attack stat and the item choices follow through as well with Choice Band predominantly leading with 59% usage, rather far ahead of Mirror Herb's 21% usage and leaving the rest of the single digit items behind. To carry on this legacy of strength, Baxcalibur takes on a Brave nature (~45%) almost doubly more than Adamant (~23%), and teams up with fellow heroic warriors like Mega Gallade, Iron Hands, and Silvally-Ghost.
Iron Hands itself is still mostly Galvanizing with Mega Ampharos but with Baxcalibur as a common comrade now. Other ability choices include Intrepid Sword, Good as Gold, Sword of Ruin, and Scrappy, but one thing is for certain than Choice Band is the item of choice with a universally agreed 91% usage.
Going through the viability ceilings (the highest GXE that a player using that pokemon has reached), we see the peaks staying around 81 starting with the #1 Ting-Lu and also Mega Slowbro who isn't far off in 12th and is still overperforming as I mentioned earlier, who has Ting-Lu as a main teammate with 56% usage. Slowbro is still primarily running Unaware/WP like last month, but to a lesser degree as Purifying Salt has actually risen up to about 18% usage out of nowhere, which I guess would defend against a weakness and common status that could wear Slowbro down. The next viability ceiling is 80 with Glastrier (Intrepid Sword/Refrigerate/Simple/Magic Guard and WP/Band/Mirror Herb/Life Orb as scattered picks above 10%) and Mega Ampharos (Competitive/Hadron Engine/Plus and Specs/Herb as the higher picks) with the Iron Hands combo being its primary teammate (18%), but not by as a large margin as Slowbro.
The last few viability ceilings to round it out will be 79 featuring Blissey (classic Imposter) and Dragapult, who is still pretty varied but seems to be mainly running Fluffy/Competitive/Good as Gold with Mirror Herb and Chioce Band being main items and Normalium Z slightly behind. Lastly, at 78 we have a 3-way tie of the classic meta mons in Mega Venusaur, Mega Heracross, and Necturna, who are all mostly up to the same tricks. Necturna still seems to be mainly based on the Thick Fat sample set, but even Primordial Sea has more usage than Flower Veil which I didn't see coming.
Interestingly Mega Venusaur's teammates are very varied but double Venusaur still beats out Ting-Lu and sample Necturna. Heracross is the same way with double Heracross over Ting-Lu as the most common picks, and with Ampharos in 3rd it goes to show that Heracross doesn't really care what its partner is. Meanwhile, Necturna has a 70% Venusaur partner rate, mainly due to the forementioned classic sample team from the thread OP, but also has no visible Ting-Lu teammate, which goes to show how it seems to be perceived as less generalist than Venusaur and working more around Flower Veil than standing on its own. Thanks for your reading.
Then you got the Ghost types such as Mega Sableye and Gengar and Dusclops with incredible bulk and power (power being Mega Gengar). I'll try and find some "counters" to this stuff, because a) I made Regirock top 10 usage last gen b) I hate meta stuff, and c) I'm confident as shit
Usage stats be too tuff
This brings up some fair points about the current meta, but also reminds me of something I realized while writing and wanted to touch upon further. It may be true that Heracross and Venusaur are still dominating, but I think you shouldn't count out Ting-Lu for the reason that it is #1 with a presence that we haven't seen before, which I would say could be the antimeta pick to what we've seen established in Gen 8, making the biggest impact of Gen 9 by sort of creating its own niche in the meta of being a safe pick for nearly any team combination.You know, the biggest offenders I see are Heracross with immaculant physical damage, and Flower Veil. In Metronome Battles, you wanna limit counterplay such as using Ghost tera's and Good as Gold - but also have high damage output for an easier, less RNG based game. But those mons are just so common it's hard to justify other strats and mons
Then you got the Ghost types such as Mega Sableye and Gengar and Dusclops with incredible bulk and power (power being Mega Gengar). I'll try and find some "counters" to this stuff, because a) I made Regirock top 10 usage last gen b) I hate meta stuff, and c) I'm confident as shit
Usage stats be too tuff
To compare and contrast, Heracross's game revolves around hitting fast and hard to end the match as soon as possible. Flower Veil plays a delicate balance of trying to outlast while also set up for the bulky statboost, but risking a common weakness. Ting-Lu offers a more bulk-focused style that is reminiscent of the days of Eviolite stall, but not requiring the same amount of investment. Like you mentioned that you want to have high damage output to raise consistency, Ting-Lu embraces being the extender of games, causing more of a chance that anything can happen. You can't particularly prepare for it, you can only just hope you can break through the living wall that could no-sell your statboosts or bounce away any passive status you try to inflict, and that's not even getting into the other mon still beside it, which brings me to my main point about why I think Ting-Lu's dominance is on a different level.
Something I mentioned a lot but didn't fully link together in my first post is that Ting-Lu's main value on the field is being able to survive to split up attacks and keep 2 Pokemon active, and it says a lot that many top mons appreciate having it around, including Glastrier as its main partner as a fellow bulky statbooster. Even when it seems haphazard, frail mons and bulky mons alike can synergize just fine with Ting-Lu's power to continue existing in the battle, which can make even the most random team comp feel like something to watch out for compared to if you threw on Heracross or Venusaur instead.
Where Heracross is more of a selfish superstar that would rather have two of itself to finish the job, and Venusaur appreciates having full support from Flower Veil to really get going, Ting-Lu is more like the old mentor type that's seen it all and can still take a beating. I think the splashability of Ting-Lu is what sets it apart from the rest of the top 10, as a partner that can tag team with the best and worst of them and still make it work out, having more potential for variability in teammates compared to other mons that would prefer to double up or stick with static strategies, giving it the flexibility to be #1 through the more diverse spread of teams relying on it for a path to victory.
Hi hi, it's time to update the teams available with /sampleteams, as we did for Gen 8 last year. Before I have the time to actually check the thread since the introduction of SV, feel free to suggest teams yourselves! Let's aim at the most variety of strategies possible (like, one representative team for each strat, not 5 magic guard options), as long with a minimum of competitive viability.
I think other people probably have better versions of standard archetypes, so I’ll share the more unusual ones I have that have found the most success.
Walking Wake @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beads of Ruin
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Xurkitree @ Choice Specs
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
This is the best version of Ice Scales + Beads of Ruin I’ve tried and it’s quite effective. Ice Scales more than offsets the downside of Beads of Ruin and lets Xurkitree be reasonably bulky while firing off monumentally powerful special attacks. Unlike Ampharos, Xurkitree can Terastallize, so naturally I gave it the best type: Ghost. However, it has a naturally good defensive type, so against Scrappy or more defensive teams where chip damage will be more important, Walking Wake has the option to Tera Poison instead. I will also sometimes Terastallize Walking Wake against teams with powerful dragon types, though I do that less often now than when it was Tera Fairy.
Ting-Lu @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Silvally-Ghost @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Weakness Policy Ice Scales Tera Ghost Ting Lu needs no introduction, so I’ll focus on the Silvally set instead, which provides Intimidate support to help Ting Lu take more hits to activate its item. Intimidate was somewhat infamous last gen for losing hard to Defiant and Flower Veil, some of the most dominant strategies of the meta. This gen, Mirror Herb turns those matchups on their heads by copying the boosts those strategies get without copying the stat drops or super effective hits that they need to take to proc them. I do have an Unaware Silvally variant that matches up even better against Flower Veil, but the Intimidate version has the better matchup against a wider variety of teams. Mirror Herb still doesn’t work nearly as well on Showdown as it would in-game and an update to fix it is probably not coming any time soon because of technical limitations and lack of research, but even as is it’s still quite strong as support for Intimidate. Silvally is Tera Normal so it can dodge Phantom and Shadow Force, which it will sometimes have the opportunity to as WP Ting Lu doesn’t Tera immediately so it has more weaknesses to activate its item with. I did also see a Tera Ghost Dusclops on ladder recently that beaned the heck out of my own ghost with a Poltergeist roll, so it might be worth dodging those super effective super-STABs from time to time.
Walking Wake @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beads of Ruin
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Xurkitree @ Choice Specs
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
This is the best version of Ice Scales + Beads of Ruin I’ve tried and it’s quite effective. Ice Scales more than offsets the downside of Beads of Ruin and lets Xurkitree be reasonably bulky while firing off monumentally powerful special attacks. Unlike Ampharos, Xurkitree can Terastallize, so naturally I gave it the best type: Ghost. However, it has a naturally good defensive type, so against Scrappy or more defensive teams where chip damage will be more important, Walking Wake has the option to Tera Poison instead. I will also sometimes Terastallize Walking Wake against teams with powerful dragon types, though I do that less often now than when it was Tera Fairy.
Ting-Lu @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Ice Scales
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Silvally-Ghost @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Weakness Policy Ice Scales Tera Ghost Ting Lu needs no introduction, so I’ll focus on the Silvally set instead, which provides Intimidate support to help Ting Lu take more hits to activate its item. Intimidate was somewhat infamous last gen for losing hard to Defiant and Flower Veil, some of the most dominant strategies of the meta. This gen, Mirror Herb turns those matchups on their heads by copying the boosts those strategies get without copying the stat drops or super effective hits that they need to take to proc them. I do have an Unaware Silvally variant that matches up even better against Flower Veil, but the Intimidate version has the better matchup against a wider variety of teams. Mirror Herb still doesn’t work nearly as well on Showdown as it would in-game and an update to fix it is probably not coming any time soon because of technical limitations and lack of research, but even as is it’s still quite strong as support for Intimidate. Silvally is Tera Normal so it can dodge Phantom and Shadow Force, which it will sometimes have the opportunity to as WP Ting Lu doesn’t Tera immediately so it has more weaknesses to activate its item with. I did also see a Tera Ghost Dusclops on ladder recently that beaned the heck out of my own ghost with a Poltergeist roll, so it might be worth dodging those super effective super-STABs from time to time.
This has been my favourite offence team to use lately:
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Baxcalibur @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
Always Terastallize Tyranitar on Turn 1 - Tyranitar's plentiful weaknesses are pretty unpleasant, and its 4x Fighting weakness is horrid and will hand you losses to variance otherwise. Baxcalibur is a rare 145 base Attack mon that doesn't need Tera to fix a 4x weakness, can use Weakness Policy, and still has passable Special Attack.
Otherwise, this team lets Tyranitar deal unreal amounts of damage while Baxcalibur still has reasonable offences if Tyranitar goes down, and Tyranitar has enough bulk to not worry too much about its teammate's Sword of Ruin making its Defence go down.
I've enjoyed Weakness Policy on Baxcalibur letting it use charge attacks instead of making them fail like Choice Band does.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Intrepid Sword
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Baxcalibur @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
Always Terastallize Tyranitar on Turn 1 - Tyranitar's plentiful weaknesses are pretty unpleasant, and its 4x Fighting weakness is horrid and will hand you losses to variance otherwise. Baxcalibur is a rare 145 base Attack mon that doesn't need Tera to fix a 4x weakness, can use Weakness Policy, and still has passable Special Attack.
Otherwise, this team lets Tyranitar deal unreal amounts of damage while Baxcalibur still has reasonable offences if Tyranitar goes down, and Tyranitar has enough bulk to not worry too much about its teammate's Sword of Ruin making its Defence go down.
I've enjoyed Weakness Policy on Baxcalibur letting it use charge attacks instead of making them fail like Choice Band does.
Not a team, but a few ideas
Sableye-Mega @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Unfortunately, we don't have many viable Ghost types that are bulky in some way, shape or form. Mega Sableye is one of them with good 50/125/115 bulk and low but managable 85 base offenses. Speed isnt really a matter because its bulk compensates for it. The set I'm using is Unaware and Mirror Herb. Mirror Herb allows for a potential offensive boost against things like Intrepid Sword or any form of stat boosting, and Unaware stops slowballing Weakness Policies. In return, it does lack Good as Gold and can be middling in its offenses without a boost - but imo it's well worth the trade-off.
Looking at these 2, their bulk is incredible. Ting-Lu is overall bulkier, but not as strong. However, Iron Hands isnt really strong enough to make use of its base 140 attack. I mean, its 5 lower than Baxcalibur so make what you will of that.
Polar opposites in the offenses. One is physical, the other is special. Honestly, they are really bulky on their end as well. 80/200 physical or special bulk makes for a good wall with terastallization. and 100 base physical or special attack is pretty good for a wall (just look at Dusclops). But I've been going over walls. What about offensive threats?
I wish it was usable. I mean it is, but its not bulky enough to take 2 hits
252 Atk Venusaur-Mega Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 71-84 (23.3 - 27.6%) -- 75% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Heracross-Mega Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 243-286 (79.9 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Ting-Lu Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 76-90 (25 - 29.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
But for these moderate Struggle calcs, you get the second strongest physical attacker, and the strongest special attacker alongside a wild speed stat of 150.
Mega Sharpedo is interesting. It has a bad defensive typing that can't be switched and some pretty low stats. 110 special attack. 105 speed. 70/70/65 bulk. And 140 attack
Oh. Oh thats high. Mega Sharpedo is a slow, but not super slow mixed attacker with some decent bulk (better than Hisuian Zoroark's). Maybe with some team support or offensive things it can shine, but like
that's not really great defensively at all really. Too many weaknesses with too frail of a stat spread. It's an idea - just not a good one
That's all I have to say on some pokemon ideas. I find it a bit unfortunate we live in a sorta set meta, but I believe certain mons have a chance that you should try out. With all that being said, goodbye
Sableye-Mega @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
Unfortunately, we don't have many viable Ghost types that are bulky in some way, shape or form. Mega Sableye is one of them with good 50/125/115 bulk and low but managable 85 base offenses. Speed isnt really a matter because its bulk compensates for it. The set I'm using is Unaware and Mirror Herb. Mirror Herb allows for a potential offensive boost against things like Intrepid Sword or any form of stat boosting, and Unaware stops slowballing Weakness Policies. In return, it does lack Good as Gold and can be middling in its offenses without a boost - but imo it's well worth the trade-off.
Looking at these 2, their bulk is incredible. Ting-Lu is overall bulkier, but not as strong. However, Iron Hands isnt really strong enough to make use of its base 140 attack. I mean, its 5 lower than Baxcalibur so make what you will of that.
Polar opposites in the offenses. One is physical, the other is special. Honestly, they are really bulky on their end as well. 80/200 physical or special bulk makes for a good wall with terastallization. and 100 base physical or special attack is pretty good for a wall (just look at Dusclops). But I've been going over walls. What about offensive threats?
I wish it was usable. I mean it is, but its not bulky enough to take 2 hits
252 Atk Venusaur-Mega Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 71-84 (23.3 - 27.6%) -- 75% chance to 4HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Sword of Ruin Heracross-Mega Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 243-286 (79.9 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Ting-Lu Struggle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Deoxys-Attack: 76-90 (25 - 29.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
But for these moderate Struggle calcs, you get the second strongest physical attacker, and the strongest special attacker alongside a wild speed stat of 150.
Mega Sharpedo is interesting. It has a bad defensive typing that can't be switched and some pretty low stats. 110 special attack. 105 speed. 70/70/65 bulk. And 140 attack
Oh. Oh thats high. Mega Sharpedo is a slow, but not super slow mixed attacker with some decent bulk (better than Hisuian Zoroark's). Maybe with some team support or offensive things it can shine, but like
that's not really great defensively at all really. Too many weaknesses with too frail of a stat spread. It's an idea - just not a good one
That's all I have to say on some pokemon ideas. I find it a bit unfortunate we live in a sorta set meta, but I believe certain mons have a chance that you should try out. With all that being said, goodbye
I definitely haven't been as active this gen, but I would love to contribute a very solid team I've been using since the Opportunist ban, and hopefully get it added as a sample.
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Purifying Salt
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
This combination of Clear Amulet + Purifying Salt forms a "Flower Veil" type of build, with status and stat drop immunity, and it only makes sense to use it with the most used mon right now. This also fits in very well with Tera Ghost, as Purifying Salt's Ghost-type damage reduction essentially removes the Ghost weakness, making a Ghost Ting-Lu only weak to Dark.
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Purifying Salt
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
This combination of Clear Amulet + Purifying Salt forms a "Flower Veil" type of build, with status and stat drop immunity, and it only makes sense to use it with the most used mon right now. This also fits in very well with Tera Ghost, as Purifying Salt's Ghost-type damage reduction essentially removes the Ghost weakness, making a Ghost Ting-Lu only weak to Dark.
For new samples I'd like to suggest Alex Rose's Aerilate strategy, been seeing it quite a bit recently and i think it gives a good suggestion to new players on one of the ways to work around the very common ghost types, also an answer to Flower Veil strategies.
Another one I thought maybe should be represented is the immunity stacking strategy. It's more popular lower on the ladder in my experience, but also suggests that usual pokemon weaknesses (or attacks in general) can be worked around using various abilities. When people run this strategy, it's usually double Hisuian Zoroark or a Hisuian Zoroark and another pokemon with an immunity or two which run abilities that add another type immunity.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Band
Ability: Aerilate
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
Enamorus-Therian @ Choice Specs
Ability: Delta Stream
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Ability: Aerilate
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
Enamorus-Therian @ Choice Specs
Ability: Delta Stream
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Zoroark-Hisui @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Ting-Lu @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Quiet Nature
- Metronome
Ting-Lu @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Brave Nature
- Metronome
I wanna put out an anti-meta duo. It might be bad, but I don't think it is.
Annihilape @ Lum Berry
Ability: Good as Gold / Defiant
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
So I wanted a duo with some power and a bulky Ghost type. Annihilape has that with its 110/80/90 bulk and 115 attack -- very respectable for an offensive mon. Plus it has base 90 speed which is solid. It has Good as Gold to negate any niche stuff like Perish Song or any status move that's negative to it, but Defiant can be used if you want to deal some damage. Lum Berry is there to ignore a stray poison which could be the difference between a win and a loss. I think it's a good set but it might honestly be pretty trash.
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
Just like Annihilape, except with Clear Amulet + Magic Guard. People don't actually know how common poison is as a stray status move and it just wins games. This duo likes to take a slower pace of the game -- hoping for stat boosts and general good luck (as is any Metronome Battle). Annihilape is the offense and Ting-Lu is the defense. I don't need to say much about Ting-Lu as #1 in usage.
Personally, I'm a big fan of immunity stacking. I feel it's the proper way to play the game, and must be explored more.
Annihilape @ Lum Berry
Ability: Good as Gold / Defiant
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Metronome
So I wanted a duo with some power and a bulky Ghost type. Annihilape has that with its 110/80/90 bulk and 115 attack -- very respectable for an offensive mon. Plus it has base 90 speed which is solid. It has Good as Gold to negate any niche stuff like Perish Song or any status move that's negative to it, but Defiant can be used if you want to deal some damage. Lum Berry is there to ignore a stray poison which could be the difference between a win and a loss. I think it's a good set but it might honestly be pretty trash.
Ting-Lu @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Metronome
Just like Annihilape, except with Clear Amulet + Magic Guard. People don't actually know how common poison is as a stray status move and it just wins games. This duo likes to take a slower pace of the game -- hoping for stat boosts and general good luck (as is any Metronome Battle). Annihilape is the offense and Ting-Lu is the defense. I don't need to say much about Ting-Lu as #1 in usage.
Personally, I'm a big fan of immunity stacking. I feel it's the proper way to play the game, and must be explored more.
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I wanted to post a quick update about the new DLC reveal of the Toxic Chain ability. So far it reads similarly to Poison Touch adding a random secondary effect to moves (without knowing the exact chance), but without the contact hit requirement (working on any offensive move) and inflicts Toxic poison instead of regular poison, which will deal more damage after 3 turns and outpace recovery if left for long enough. When DLC1 comes out, I feel like this ability could become a pretty common option on ladder as a new toy and more reliable status spreading option, depending on the proc chance. Despite being more likely to activate, I'm not sure if the ability will end up making a place in the meta where Poison Touch or even Poison Point haven't been able to, since passive damage and status still have its general counters like Flower Veil and Magic Guard, and specific picks like Poison types or Covert Cloaks will also block its main effect.
A shockingly small fraction of moves are contact moves, so abilities like Poison Touch, Flame Body, and Pickpocket have performed disappointingly poorly for me (and even Fluffy has been a flake at times - dang you, Earthquake). At the very least, Toxic Chain should completely take over Poison Touch's slot regardless of how much Flower Veil, Venusaur-Mega, Gengar-Mega, and Tera Poison there is in the meta. And yes, I remember quite a few teams in this thread with Poison Touch.
Oh man, Toxic Chain. IF on the rare chance it just always badly poisons the target, then it might actually be threatening. See, here's the thing about the top pokemon:
The sheer boosting factors of
, Sword of Ruin, Intrepid Sword, and 's overwhelming 185 attack make it the absolute strongest physical attacker in the tier. The strongest special attacker is a polar oppsite 
, Beads of Ruin, Download [special attack boosting] 
, but it too is frail to even be a glass cannon - it's just glassNow with that being said, Let's look at Mega Venusaur's stats
It's the best Grass-type by an unreasonably large margin, with runner-up being
in most cases. Looking at its stats, it's... not actually bulky. Or has that much attack honestly. It's just the only tool Grass-types have. Terastillization could help it, but turning into a Grass-type isn't ideal in the long run, and reverting from a Grass-type with a Flower Veil partner has moments before disaster written all over it. Even in using vs a duo, a super effective - say Metronome Fire Lash from (not STAB btw) with the boosting of , Intrepid Sword and an ally Sword of Ruin, that's going to KO. Maybe even Flame Wheel would KO and it's 20 BP weaker than Fire Lash. The only thing holding it back is the fact that it can't terastallize - but Grass-Poison is known for having bulky behemoths such as 
. But hey thats how the cookie crumples igUNFORTUNATELY, the absolute physically bulkiest mon in the game is Mega Steelix. BUT WE CAN'T USE IT due to it being a steel type. (in all fairness tho, it would be incredibly annoying to face) Guess what the physically bulkiest thing we can use is?
Rhydon. Fucking. Rhydon. Not Avalugg. Not even Ting-Lu. With
this armored rhino is ~5% bulkier than 
. Does it matter? No. Why does it not matter? Because 
has HORRENDOUS special bulk.Ok, it's not as bad as
's which isn't saying much, but it's something. It is astonishing how much wasted potential this thing has. It's even stronger than by a good margin. Good thing 
is decent enough to useIf we look at the other side of the spectrum, we have the specially bulkiest pokemon in the game being without a doubt
But you and I both know that it doesnt even use that amazing special bulk. No. Instead, it uses its ridiculous Eternamax-Eternatus equal HP stat (albeit by 5) with
to make the best use of Imposter. It does it well yes, but if it could make use of that it would be hell.So now that we've gone over this
duo of + , what if you were to use it in a Metronome Battle? You would fail miserably. Because Chansey ALSO has equally bad physical bulk. In fact, it has the lowest physical defense stat in the entire game.5 defense with
and 250 HP means it can [sometimes] tank a Close Combat. But it's not by much. And don't even get me started on its offensive stats. (just look at them) And you might be thinking, "Oh, what about terastallization?" Well I agree it's the fact that only 1 can use it in a match. They might have the best raw bulk we got, but PLEASE don't use this duo unless you are confident enough you can win games.The next best raw bulk duo of
/ 
+ as a duo isnt good either. It's the same thing, but they can use an item. But the same issue remains of only 1 using terastillization.Now, how does everything above relate to Toxic Chain? Well as I said in a prior post, the name of the game is minimizing randomnes factors y using Ghost-types and Fllower Veil to make yourself immune to things. But also, the other half of this is raw damage output. The multipliers a
can get is unprecedented and the same can be said for on the special end of it. Now Toxic Chain miiiight be hard countered by a Magic Guard, but what if you simply can't outlast your opponent? This is the case more often than not, and the in-between of is moreso bulk than attack. That being said, I could see using it to great success if it were to be used. Matter of fact, anything can use it - so we could see a tiny spike in Tera Poison and Magic Guard/Purifying Salt.Thank you so much for reading this wall of text. I'll be back when the usage stats are up by doipy hooves on July 2nd ish. And with all of that being said, goodbye.
TL;DR: If Toxic Chain always inflicts a badly poison, we are going to have a problem. Anything can use it. Sure Magic Guard or Purifying Salt and the like stops it, but
is still terrifyingly powerful. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out
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Whoa, you're right, Rhydon beats out everything else I covered in the physical bulk analysis chart I posted a while ago. Can't believe I missed that bugger.Oh man, Toxic Chain. IF on the rare chance it just always badly poisons the target, then it might actually be threatening. See, here's the thing about the top pokemon:
The sheer boosting factors of
Now with that being said, Let's look at Mega Venusaur's stats
View attachment 529149
It's the best Grass-type by an unreasonably large margin, with runner-up being
UNFORTUNATELY, the absolute physically bulkiest mon in the game is Mega Steelix. BUT WE CAN'T USE IT due to it being a steel type. (in all fairness tho, it would be incredibly annoying to face) Guess what the physically bulkiest thing we can use is?
Rhydon. Fucking. Rhydon. Not Avalugg. Not even Ting-Lu. With
View attachment 529141
Ok, it's not as bad as
If we look at the other side of the spectrum, we have the specially bulkiest pokemon in the game being without a doubt
But you and I both know that it doesnt even use that amazing special bulk. No. Instead, it uses its ridiculous Eternamax-Eternatus equal HP stat (albeit by 5) with
So now that we've gone over this
View attachment 529142
5 defense with
The next best raw bulk duo of
Now, how does everything above relate to Toxic Chain? Well as I said in a prior post, the name of the game is minimizing randomnes factors y using Ghost-types and Fllower Veil to make yourself immune to things. But also, the other half of this is raw damage output. The multipliers a
Thank you so much for reading this wall of text. I'll be back when the usage stats are up by doipy hooves on July 2nd ish. And with all of that being said, goodbye.
TL;DR: If Toxic Chain always inflicts a badly poison, we are going to have a problem. Anything can use it. Sure Magic Guard or Purifying Salt and the like stops it, but
No one expects the Eviolite Rhydon. Lemme see something real quick
252 SpA Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Rhydon: 350-414 (99.7 - 117.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Regirock: 282-332 (93.6 - 110.2%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Regirock: 216-254 (71.7 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 224-266 (63.8 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
It's official. I'm now using Rhydon instead of Regirock
I wanna run flutter mane pixlize choice band, who would be a good partner
Do not, under any circumstances, use choice band on flutter mane my friend. I can only assume you meant specs lol
anyways, that's a pretty self sufficient concept. you can either use a bulky partner or something that boosts offenses like Fairy Aura (sadly misty terrain doesn't boost fairy damage).
anyways, that's a pretty self sufficient concept. you can either use a bulky partner or something that boosts offenses like Fairy Aura (sadly misty terrain doesn't boost fairy damage).
Happy Bidoof Day 2023! As the northern summer begins and the year approaches its midpoint, it feels like a fitting time to reflect on the historical events of these months significant to Metronome Battle. It's been 3 years now that Metronome beat the 10000 battle requirements of its test run in May 2020 and reclaimed its existence as a ranked ladder, which is hard to realize that it was at the beginning of June on page 22 and now we're double the pages later on page 44. SWSH DLC1's new moves, mons and a new CAP had also dropped later that month, and this July marks 3 years since I first posted some notes about the usage stats for the month after Metronome's survival. Things were briefer back then and in some ways for the better, so we'll see how it goes to focus on the essentials again.
For SV itself, HOME compatibility is in full effect now, and the next rounds of DLC still await us for Fall with some poison-looking mons and whatever else comes to pass. It has been noted that in the new 1.3.2 update that Illuminate's description has been updated to note that it will prevent accuracy drops, but this effect is not actually in the game yet, so Illuminate fans will be in for a real treat whenever that happens.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-06/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-06/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
The battle count this month has slightly dropped down to 51238 with a 9% dip but is still relatively high, and there's some historical precedence to a drop in June. It's lower than the same time in 2022, but still higher than 2021 and 2020.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Heracross (#3)
#2: Ting-Lu (#1)
#3: Mega Venusaur (#2)
#4: Blissey (#5)
#5: Glastrier (#4)
#6: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#7: Mega Sableye (#9)
#8: Ursaluna (#14)
#9: Dusclops (#13)
#10: Mega Gengar (#11)
The meta shuffles once again as Mega Heracross makes an upsurging comeback to 1st place this month with a raw 24264 uses, over doubling the state of last month's peak while Venusaur is still stuck in the 10000 zone. On the lower end, Ursaluna has ended up making another move into the top 10 in the month of HOME relevance along with Dusclops and Mega Gengar shifting out Baxcalibur and Iron Hands from last month. Something surprising I noticed is Chansey making it to #17 with 1678 uses, which is not something you expect when Blissey is on the table, but I guess Chansey being slightly worse Blissey is still good enough for an Imposter set to dwarf the enemy's HP anyway. Some dark horses of the month include Tyranitar and Type: Null hanging around #20 and #22 with ~1000 uses, and on the lower end of triple-digit uses, Iron Hands has fallen down to #26 with 735 uses while Hoopa is still doing its own thing at #28 with 906 uses.
Over in the moveset file, the viability ceilings (highest GXE of a player that has used a certain pokemon) tell a slightly different story. Type: Null and Dusclops represent bonkstall at the top with 81, though there is noticeable division between Magic Bounce and Friend Guard on both. Mega Ampharos follows up at 80 going all in on Competitive + Specs + double Ampharos for SpA stacking. The 4-way tie for 79 includes Blissey and Chansey at the same time as probable partners, while Mega Sableye is Magic Bounce as usual with Sablenite leading again, and Munchlax returns out of nowhere with 77 uses to surpass its previous appearance in March with 76 GXE, primarily running Dauntless Shield + Eviolite with a Mega Sableye partner. We'll end off with Glastrier in 78, mainly running Intrepid Sword with some Simple and Good as Gold in the mix, and the items follow the same pattern with Weakness Policy leading and Choice Band/Mirror Herb behind. Thanks for your reading.
For SV itself, HOME compatibility is in full effect now, and the next rounds of DLC still await us for Fall with some poison-looking mons and whatever else comes to pass. It has been noted that in the new 1.3.2 update that Illuminate's description has been updated to note that it will prevent accuracy drops, but this effect is not actually in the game yet, so Illuminate fans will be in for a real treat whenever that happens.
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-06/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-06/moveset/gen9metronomebattle-1630.txt
The battle count this month has slightly dropped down to 51238 with a 9% dip but is still relatively high, and there's some historical precedence to a drop in June. It's lower than the same time in 2022, but still higher than 2021 and 2020.
1630 Top 10 + last month positions:
#1: Mega Heracross (#3)
#2: Ting-Lu (#1)
#3: Mega Venusaur (#2)
#4: Blissey (#5)
#5: Glastrier (#4)
#6: Mega Ampharos (no change)
#7: Mega Sableye (#9)
#8: Ursaluna (#14)
#9: Dusclops (#13)
#10: Mega Gengar (#11)
The meta shuffles once again as Mega Heracross makes an upsurging comeback to 1st place this month with a raw 24264 uses, over doubling the state of last month's peak while Venusaur is still stuck in the 10000 zone. On the lower end, Ursaluna has ended up making another move into the top 10 in the month of HOME relevance along with Dusclops and Mega Gengar shifting out Baxcalibur and Iron Hands from last month. Something surprising I noticed is Chansey making it to #17 with 1678 uses, which is not something you expect when Blissey is on the table, but I guess Chansey being slightly worse Blissey is still good enough for an Imposter set to dwarf the enemy's HP anyway. Some dark horses of the month include Tyranitar and Type: Null hanging around #20 and #22 with ~1000 uses, and on the lower end of triple-digit uses, Iron Hands has fallen down to #26 with 735 uses while Hoopa is still doing its own thing at #28 with 906 uses.
Over in the moveset file, the viability ceilings (highest GXE of a player that has used a certain pokemon) tell a slightly different story. Type: Null and Dusclops represent bonkstall at the top with 81, though there is noticeable division between Magic Bounce and Friend Guard on both. Mega Ampharos follows up at 80 going all in on Competitive + Specs + double Ampharos for SpA stacking. The 4-way tie for 79 includes Blissey and Chansey at the same time as probable partners, while Mega Sableye is Magic Bounce as usual with Sablenite leading again, and Munchlax returns out of nowhere with 77 uses to surpass its previous appearance in March with 76 GXE, primarily running Dauntless Shield + Eviolite with a Mega Sableye partner. We'll end off with Glastrier in 78, mainly running Intrepid Sword with some Simple and Good as Gold in the mix, and the items follow the same pattern with Weakness Policy leading and Choice Band/Mirror Herb behind. Thanks for your reading.
Hemogoblin post!!
Been playing around with the new kid on the block this past month:
I believe great thoughts about the pokemon were given in the May usage stats post, and it's greatest strengths lie in it's balanced stat spread and more importantly (citation needed) in the great defensive typing it offers. To play around it's strengths I decided to try using it as a supportive pokemon that could stack up and do some damage itself in some games too. To make the differences more noticeable, I always used Ursaluna as the pairing. Ursaluna was picked because i haven't used it yet and wanted to give it a shot in general
, but looking back at it the typings of the 2 work pretty nicely with each other.
The failure gave me the idea: I want Hemogoblin to stack up more while also providing support for my Ursaluna. While playing i realized that the 2 pokemon I was using were both weak to water, which after a couple of adjustments led me to this little synergy:
General thoughts:
The newest usage stats regarding Hemogoblin I'm pretty confident were hijacked by solely me, with parts of my strategy sitting at 70% usage or more, so I just wanted to share what was happening with that.
Overall, the BST of 516 isn't too amazing and even with the typing it doesn't quite fulfill the usual supportive role of just staying alive, so you have to get creative and balance giving it more damage AND giving it more survivability.
What also surprised me was how common water and grass attacks were, i'm pretty sure both of the abilities would proc at least twice each game, which changed my preconceptions and i'm not sure if ghost type is really that strong and dominant, considering that taking all normal attacks didn't kneecap this strategy and will try to play more with alternative typings in the future ^^
Thank you for reading and feel free to offer suggestions to make Hemogoblin even more useful and maybe show it off on the ladder!
Been playing around with the new kid on the block this past month:
I believe great thoughts about the pokemon were given in the May usage stats post, and it's greatest strengths lie in it's balanced stat spread and more importantly (citation needed) in the great defensive typing it offers. To play around it's strengths I decided to try using it as a supportive pokemon that could stack up and do some damage itself in some games too. To make the differences more noticeable, I always used Ursaluna as the pairing. Ursaluna was picked because i haven't used it yet and wanted to give it a shot in general
, but looking back at it the typings of the 2 work pretty nicely with each other.To me, the most standard ability you can give to a supportive pokemon is Magic Bounce: more survivability against those pesky statuses, lower amounts of lowered stats and such sounds great! Ursaluna was given Scrappy and was expected to sweep with the assistance of the little goblin.
Results: I was having a hard time climbing with this strategy, hardly cracking 1300's, I believe the biggest issue was Hemogoblin not living long enough and not blasting the damage you would expect from a pokemon that doesn't live that long.
Results: I was having a hard time climbing with this strategy, hardly cracking 1300's, I believe the biggest issue was Hemogoblin not living long enough and not blasting the damage you would expect from a pokemon that doesn't live that long.
Storm drain: The Pokémon draws in all Water-type moves. Instead of taking damage from them, its Sp. Atk stat is boosted.
Great! This ability allows me to use Hemogoblin as a support for Ursaluna, removing a weakness from both, but also gives it a chance to stack up on SpA, thus giving the team a more balanced damage output!
With Ursaluna's typing giving it 2 immunities and the new-found immunity in Hemogoblin's Storm Drain i decided to lean into giving it one more, and ability that would grant more Attack sounded great, in the end giving me this:
Hemogoblin @ Lum Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Ursaluna @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
The results were great and i found myself quickly getting up to 1350's and on some days even getting to 1450's!
(Hemogoblin gets Lum, because it's survivability was more important than it's damage output and i couldn't think of anything more clever than that)
Great! This ability allows me to use Hemogoblin as a support for Ursaluna, removing a weakness from both, but also gives it a chance to stack up on SpA, thus giving the team a more balanced damage output!
With Ursaluna's typing giving it 2 immunities and the new-found immunity in Hemogoblin's Storm Drain i decided to lean into giving it one more, and ability that would grant more Attack sounded great, in the end giving me this:
Hemogoblin @ Lum Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
Ursaluna @ Mirror Herb
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Metronome
The results were great and i found myself quickly getting up to 1350's and on some days even getting to 1450's!
(Hemogoblin gets Lum, because it's survivability was more important than it's damage output and i couldn't think of anything more clever than that)
General thoughts:
The newest usage stats regarding Hemogoblin I'm pretty confident were hijacked by solely me, with parts of my strategy sitting at 70% usage or more, so I just wanted to share what was happening with that.
Overall, the BST of 516 isn't too amazing and even with the typing it doesn't quite fulfill the usual supportive role of just staying alive, so you have to get creative and balance giving it more damage AND giving it more survivability.
What also surprised me was how common water and grass attacks were, i'm pretty sure both of the abilities would proc at least twice each game, which changed my preconceptions and i'm not sure if ghost type is really that strong and dominant, considering that taking all normal attacks didn't kneecap this strategy and will try to play more with alternative typings in the future ^^
Thank you for reading and feel free to offer suggestions to make Hemogoblin even more useful and maybe show it off on the ladder!
So, if you haven't been following the mechanics research thread or Balanced Hackmons happenings, there's been some new research into what's actually hackable into gen 9 local battles. It turns out that the entire national dex, minus most generational one-offs including pokestars, cosplay pikachu, totem pokemon, and gigantamax formes, have their stats, typing, and other non-item-dependent mechanics intact. For example, all 18 formes of Silvally exist with their respecive typings, 95/95/95/95/95/95 stats, and immunity to having their type changed. This is relevant to BH, so it's being implemented on main soon. None of that is relevant to Metronome Battle, though, since it doesn't have any rules based on hackability, so why does this matter? Well, mega evolutions are, for some reason, still coded into the game despite the lack of those other past gimmicks I mentioned, and unlike some battle-only formes they can be used in hacked local battles. Thus, it's testable whether or not the game allows them to Terastallize, and it turns out they can. BH has already banned terastallization and is planning to keep it banned, but I expect that change to still be implemented for Pure Hackmons' sake. Thus, barring some intervention, Megas will be able to Terastallize in Metronome Battle in as little as 2 days. This is hugely important to the meta, as Mega Heracross and Mega Venusaur are already incredibly powerful with sub-par typings. I for one don't really want to play Tera Ghost Mega Heracross meta, but if we have to then I kinda want to see Pokestar Spirit unbanned. I think it's pretty comparable in power to Tera Ghost mega evolutions, and the pressure it exerts on Ghost types by not only being effective against them but also incentivizing ghostbusting strategies just by existing could at least keep the meta from stagnating into Tera Ghost spam more than it already has. Then again, it does all that and more without having to Tera itself, and allowing it adds huge opportunity cost to running literally anything else in the non-tera slot.
That's actually massive, wow. Pixilate/Aerilate use skyrocketing soon?