I am curious about people's opinions on the meta right now, so here are some questions for y'all:
1) Hyper Offense
2) Bulky Offense
3) Balance
4) Stall
1. Rank the above in terms of how much you prefer the above playstyles and how effective/good they are in your opinion (1 being the best and 4 being the worst)
2. What Pokemon do you think are staples for each playstyle, or are very good for each specific playstyle?
3. What are some fun pokemon you like for each playstyle, or for some playstyles
4. Most overrated Pokemon in your opinion?
5. Most underrated Pokemon in your opinion?
6. Favorite new Generation 9 pokemon to use?
7. Favorite non-gen9 Pokemon to use?
8. Have you tried out any of the new items? If so, are there any you like or any that are making a solid impact in Natdex OU?
9. On a scale of 1-10, how much are you enjoying Natdex OU, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most?
10. On a scale of 1-10, how competitive do you find Natdex OU, with 1 being the least competitive and 10 being the most competitive?
this post was shamelessly stolen from the OU thread
1. 1) Bulky Offense
I've noticed my teams tend to fall apart if there's not at least
one offensive Poké that can take a hit without screens/a substitute. I tried pure HO after
wasn't doing so well for me in the current Meta due to Spinblocker McGee, but I faced the problem of too many vital Pokémon getting one/two-shot.
It may not be true Bulky Offensive, but
and
feel like comfort picks that usually facilitate the rest of the team.
being really good right now definitely helps.
2) Hyper Offense
Using
or
as a spinner, HO is still workable to me, but the most success I had with it wasn't Shed Tail shenanigans necessarily, or even dual screens nonsense for the most part, but hazard stacking.
3) Balance
I've shifted more and more offensively as the Meta went on, as more than one defensive Pokémon usually drags the team down in this heavy offensive Meta unless the Mon can deal damage in a consistent way, but I honestly feel Balance is still enjoyable depending on what you're using on it.
is great at walling stuff, particularly after a Curse or two, wherein its Earthquakes can deal solid damage and it can still Toxic Stall stuff. I used to be able to run 2-3 defensive mons and 3-4 offensive mons pretty consistently, but the Meta makes it hard for some of them not to feel like a deadweight. In my experience, even Defensive mons need a way to deal damage.
and
are good examples.
4) Stall
Respectfully, no thanks.
How good they are:
1) HO/BO (really depends on how well the team is facilitated by the main picks, be it hazard setters/dual screeners or the bulky mons who can switch in and out if needed)
2) Stall (still has most of its tools here, but recovery was nerfed. This doesn't matter to Stall teams as much though, as there's at least 5 Pokémon with 8 PP recovery. The lower PP has just caused most Stall mons to be more proactive rather than just clicking Softboiled until Life Orb KO's you.
3) Balance (as said before, a balanced team in the new Gen needs to be able to threaten Mons, and stuff like
can barely do that if you're specifically weak to Body Press. Most of the good Balance teams this Gen also partially blend in with BO.
2.
Hyper Offense:
Staples
,
Tera Ice 
Good on
Bulky Offense:
Staples
Good on
Balance:
Staples
Good on
Stall:
Staples
Good on
Mold Breaker
,
,
,
I'm sure I'm missing a few, but those are the ones that came to mind.
3. Sorta answered in the first response
4.
A lot of good Pokémon dropped go UU, so I'm just going to pull in general and not just from OU:
Seen it way too much for how mediocre it is.
More particularly:
's typing is so bad defensively that what it's about to do is entirely telegraphed. Agility ---> Fiery Dance ---> Pray it boosts ---> Tera Grass if threatened. Always Booster Energy. This thing wishes it had Quiver Dance, as only the Scarf sets don't have to rely on Agility-Fiery Dance as a budget Quiver Dance, but the
sets are, quite frankly, outclassed by
. Not as good as
imo.
5.
A lot of stuff is being underrated, as a lot of stuff has dropped to UU, but here's a few that either will rise back up to OU when usage straightens back out, or be good regardless.
are all underrated in different ways imo. I'll elaborate further down but here's a summary for now.
is a
great check to many of the offensive Pokémon running around such as
and
, among others. Choice Band is its best set right now IMO. Tera Water Liquidation 2HKOs
, and deletes most of the game from existence. Ice Spinner/Play Rough are handy for predicts, deleting
and
, while Play Rough nails Water resists/immunities not weak to Ice Spinner.
is the best Defogger I've used in Natdex. Nobody really expects the defensive/non-Choiced set first, and Dark Pulse deletes
, should they correctly switch. Golden Man blocking hazard removal? Dark Pulse the btch
Bugs and Fairies threatening you while laying down Sticky Webs? Tera Steel, Defog anyway
It can use any other move besides Dark Pulse as an attacking move, but I recommend either Fire Blast/Flamethrower or Draco Meteor. Roost and Defog are necessary. Leftovers preferred. Most consistent hazard removal besides the Paradox Donphans.
with the Loaded Dice can straight up delete teams with Icicle Spear once one (
especially two) DDs are pulled off. The secret here is Tera Fire Tera Blast. Turns Mach Punch weakness into a neutrality, Ice Shard neutrality into a resistance, and notably, makes Fire Neutrality into a resistance (great for the free +1 from Thermal Exchange), and two-shots every Steel type not named Heatran, most of which you can also score a second DD off of if there's no priority to end your sweep.
Only thing to watch out for is Aqua Jets if you Tera'd.
6.
has been slapped on too many of my teams to count. Good ol' reliable Fire Fish just nukes things with either Choice Specs or just Tera Fire Fire Blast/Overheat. Tera Dark actually isn't bad either, as most of the Meta is neutral to Dark, and those 20% flinch chances can come in handy a lot. Tera Dark turns a lot of 3HKOs into 2HKOs. Tera Fairy turns a Mach Punch weakness into a resistance, and deals with Dark/Fighting types as well, and obviously Tera Fire just nukes everything.
That said, the comfort comes from the fact that you don't actually need to Tera to clean stuff up.
7.
is amazing with Punching Gloves and Swords Dance.
:Punching Gloves:'s weak 1.1 boost is great for a multi-hit move like Surging Strikes, turning it from a 75 BP move that crits (effective 105 BP) into an 82.5 BP move that crits (effectively
123.75 BP). The Elemental Punches are slightly boosted as well, and thanks to the Punching Gloves' secondary effect,
is protected from
's Static,
's Rough Skin,
's Iron Barbs, and all
damage.
Swords Dance makes this thing, especially if Tera Water'd, unable to be stopped by damn-near anything but a Water resist/immunity, and a threat fast enough to OHKO it, while taking a potential +2 Aqua Jet.
+2 252 Atk Tera Water Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Punching Glove boosted Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight on a critical hit: 363-432 (90.7 - 108%) -- approx. 43.8% chance to OHKO
It's actually higher than this, but the Calculator doesn't let you at add the .5
+2 252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Punching Glove boosted Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 192-226 (63.1 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Also fun to note, is that with a good hazard remover or Poison type, this thing just deletes
while laying two Toxic Spikes in return.
Special shoutout to
and
for being Goats.
with Sand Tomb and Close Combat is
so fun. Trap things that try to switch in, and just remove them from the opposing team. You can even get a Swords Dance boost in the process. Priority is extremely useful in this Meta, and as I mentioned, a Mon that can take a hit is super rewarding in this heavily offensive Meta.
combines those two attributes.
is a great supplier of priority, but notably, it also Speed Ties with
, and can OHKO
thanks to Scrappy. As always,
is one of the most comfortable Pokémon to use in the tier.
8.
Punching Glove and Loaded Dice are the only ones I've used that are great, as described above. Loaded Dice on
lets it hit super hard, also notable on
(in UU). Not a giant advocate for the latter, but Dice
is fun even without Terastallizing.
Mirror Herb will probably be a common Item used on Swagger-learning Unburden users, but I don't see any other Item becoming too notable outside of Doubles.
9.
Around an 8. The more options makes the Meta feel less suffocating than SV OU, and you have more options to deal with some of the opposing bullshit that SV whipped up. That said, Terastalling needs to be Suspected here too, and despite mentioning it a lot for most of this post, I don't think it should stay. Makes Revenge-KOing too difficult.
10.
6-7. We need to kick
out, Suspect Terastallization, and while there
are more options, do something about
invalidating most Hazard removal.
Edit:
Okay, I'm legitimately upset by the Chi-Yu ban. Magearna is apparently
Fair and Balanced and Gholdengo avoids any punishment because
It's a different tier, it's easier to beat here!
Chi-Yu was very far down the list of shit that needed to go, and neither Terastallization nor Gholdengo are even being looked at.
Slowking-Galar - 3HKOd by Hydro, deals a strong blow with Sludge Bomb, Water Tera is very viable already
Steel Tera Gastrodon - The hardest answer in the game, but requires a dedicated Tera slot.
Kyurem - Requires a very bulky spread but it can avoid a 2HKO from Specs Ice Beam
Zamazenta-Crowned - Tanks 2 Hydros if specially defensive
/ 
+ 
the one where u run photosynthesis boys such as the banded great tusk or slither wing. Toed looks funny so he gets invited.
Weavile, even with Chien-Pao walking around, I do believe Weavile is still the better pick for Choice Band sets, due to it trading frankly overkill power for great Utility in both Pursuit, and Knock off, Pursuit inparticular being invaluable for helping wear down offensive threats overtime, and deal with the Eon Duo, Gholdengo, and certain variations of Dragapult, letting it still function as an infinitely better user of Choice Band than Chien-Pao right now.
/ 
