RU Stage 6: Reckless (Staraptor Banned | June Shifts)

Feliburn

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Welcome to the much awaited new metagame thread! This thread will be used to discuss the new metagame changes we've experienced lately. Starting with...




Pokémon HOME has finally released. While this does not have any immediate impact on RU, we still need to be on the lookout for a massive metagame change in the next months, when everyone drops to their respective tiers. We also get to use a couple of NFEs in Sneasel and Qwilfish in their Hisui form.


Next up, let's talk about the June shifts! We finally got more variety in terms of removal options for the tier, but we have to address the elephant in the room before talking about those:



Staraptor has been quick-banned by the RU council!



Staraptor's raw power has been deemed too much for the current state of the metagame. Being able to 2HKO one of our premier physical walls in Altaria without the need of a boosting item, and just having great tools to handle the other tanks like U-turn for mons like Mudsdale who can take a second Brave Bird, or Close Combat for our steels that resists both of Staraptor's STABs, it becomes really hard to properly handle Staraptor defensively. Offensively it is pretty hard to revenge kill it properly as well, as Staraptor has a nice base 100 speed, putting it above a big majority of the available Pokémon, and this isn't mentioning it can comfortably run a Choice Scarf as an item to outspeed the entire tier bar the surprise Choice Scarf Salazzle, or anti offense moves like Quick Attack on potential Choice Band sets to prevent faster and frailer mons from properly revenge killing it. All of this just makes Staraptor too much of a threat for the tier to handle. While it feels weird to quickban it so close to HOME dropping, the power level made us feel like action was still needed. Tagging Kris and Marty to remove it from the tier, and thanks in advance!


Next we can move to the actual usable drops:



Starting with the long awaited removal options we've been needing. Toedscruel brings a lot of utility to the tier, being able to pretty much scare the big majority of the common rockers available. It has Knock Off for Bronzong (and good progress maker vs everyone in general), Earth Power for Copperajah and Coalossal, Grass STAB coverage for Krookodile, Naclstack, Mudsdale, etc. It even has other options like Spikes and Spore. It feels like it will be a very customizable Pokémon depending on the team it's used on, but it will be hard to limit yourself to 4 moves of all the available ones. Tsareena, on the other hand, lost a lot of options that made it a solid spinner in previous metagames, mainly Knock Off and Triple Axel. The good part about this is Tsareena still has other options to use, like Play Rough so you are not useless vs Altaria, or fighting coverage for the steels like Copperajah. Not to mention its naturally high attack stat paired with U-turn and the speed boosting Rapid Spin. I personally think the mon has potential, but similarly to Toedscruel, you'll really want more than 4 moves to not feel limited vs the current tier.




Three new additions to the tier. Typhlosion is pretty straightforward, honestly, it's just a decently strong but really annoying fire type. I think I've already seen people use it in sun teams, and I gotta say that tera fire Eruptions are insanely scary. I'm not sure how much more viable it makes this type of weather, but it's clear that people won't be able to ignore it for the time being. Samurott brings a lot of cool options to the tier. RU already felt like it was lacking solid offensive water resists, and despite us getting Tsareena, the issue stands that our offensive waters have amazing coverage for them. Samurott has both Megahorn and Ice Beam to hit grasses (and Altaria with Ice Beam) super effectively. It also has Knock Off, which is huge to have in the current generation. Swords Dance is also an option paired with Aqua Jet for sweeping weakened teams. It is perhaps the cooler drop of this list. Grimmsnarl drops, and I'm sure all the screens HO users are rejoicing. I don't have much to say about it besides it having Taunt, so it already becomes the superior Prankster Screens setter when compared to Klefki. I wonder if offensive options will be good, as Dark/Fairy/Fighting is solid coverage, and it's pretty strong naturally. Let me know your thoughts on Grimmsnarl!

Fire Tauros is finally back! In recent times, Arcanine has been seeing a huge increase in usage, so it really makes you wonder if Tauros will overtake it once again as the superior Intimidate Fire type. Arcanine has options like Play Rough (for Altaria) and Extremespeed (Priority) that Tauros lacks, while Tauros has a higher speed stat, and more set up potential. Raging Bull is also big if we are expecting screens to see more usage. It'll be interesting to see how it fits in the new RU meta, as it's way different from the meta we saw when Tauros was last usable in.

This is a lot to digest, but I personally like the turn the tier has taken with these new drops. Let me know your thoughts, and happy posting!​
 
Some quick-ish (about 5 days delayed) thoughts on the new drops:

:sv/tsareena: I like tsareena a lot. It's our first rapid spinner that actually feels like it compresses roles well due to getting u-turn. Tsareena does not have good coverage like it did in the past, all it can really do with play rough, high jump kick and zen headbutt is donk altaria but still lose to pokemon like salazzle, revavroom, bronzong and arcanine. For this reason I think you need to build tsareena more bulky/slow. Power whip, u-turn, rapid spin and synthesis is the good moveset. You can switch in on ground types and spin or u-turn out but don't expect to do much damage in the midgame because you have no coverage and there are lots of grass resists.

:sv/toedscruel: I have no real Idea how to build with this thing. It has the tentacruel problem where I don't know what ev spread you should be using. Physdef? Speed? A little bit of offense investment? But it also has a whole lot more than 4 moves you want to use. Rapid spin is locked in and I think knock off and a grass type attack are also needed, but for the last slot you could use spikes, toxic , toxic spikes or earth power. Spore looks really bad on toedscruel, use brute bonnet instead if you want a spore user.

:sv/tauros_paldea_fire: The bull is back baybee! We know pretty well what this thing will do, but one note I have is that with slowbro gone, bulk up+trailblaze seems like a bad set. I think BU sets are better with stone edge to hit altaria. CB bull also looks really good now that your worst enemy doesn't just regenerate all the damage off.

:SV/grimmsnarl: Fortunately we won't have to worry about dual screen shenanigans, I think grimmsnarl's best sets will either minimally use prankster or drop it entirely so you can get parting shots off on krookodile. I think bulky offensive grimmsnarl could be very good. My first attempt at a set is sucker punch, spirit break, thunder wave, parting shot with most EVs in attack and bulk. A potential heat set is is a palafin/annihilape set with bulk up, taunt, spirit break and drain punch.

:sv/typhlosion: :sv/samurott: These two both feel like underwhelming attackers with samurott maybe being good while typhlosion is destined to fall to NU shortly. With no real bulky waters in the tier, special samurott seems difficult to switch into. Swords dance seems worse than pretty much any other swords dancer you can think of though.
 
:sv/toedscruel: I feel that the best way to play Toeds is using it a offensive spiner.

Toedscruel @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mycelium Might
Tera Type: Bug/Ice
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- Leaf Storm
- Earth Power

Mycelium Might is the worst clone of Mold Breaker so going utility is a waste on Toeds. Max Special Attacks and Speed to be as fast and hit as hard as posible. HDB to freely switch on hazzard to spin the away. You got a fairly good matchup againt the tier hazzard setter.
On Tera type Bug let you stay on Krookodile CC and killed back with Leaf Storm while aslo mantain the Ground- resist. Ice + Terablast can be a lure to Altaria if you use a non tera dependant sweeper.

Also gonna post the team i have been using on ladder with this same set. I usually stay stuck around 1200-1300 elo so if high ladder players wanna try and tell me the result would be great
Offensive Toedscruel
 
Arboliva is great, arboliva is life, arboliva is amazing and arboliva is the light that shines throught the sky. My love for arboliva is immesurable and so his arms. Everytime i wake up, the first thing that comes up to my mind isnt my girlfriend but arboliva. Without arboliva, idk how i could continue living. I cant sleep at the moment by the sheer thinking of my belove arboliva. His special defenses protects me from the evil monsters under my bed and his special attacks keeps nightmares away.
 

C0nfiden1 0yster

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RUPL Champion
Hi i just wanted to post some general thoughts on the current metagame and my enjoyment, or lack there of, with the tier.

I was originally going to make some super in-depth post about the tiering of the tier and explain why this tier is a mess and whatnot, but after combing through recent rupl replays, I realized that this tier isn't broken, I just find it incredibly unfun. Like yes Cloyster in theory has 0 checks but in tournament practice, there aren't games where cloyster just 6-0s or is close to just winning on preview. This idea applies to the other Tera setup mons such as Revavroom, Oricorio, Florges, Mismagius, Krook, etc... I've realized these pokemon aren't broken themselves, but just incredibly unfun to play around.

I don't like the idea that something like cloyster can set-up, Tera Electric on my Vaporeon and win. I don't like the idea that if I predict the tera Electric and go Bellibolt, I just lose to tera ground. You can't really scout it because if it sets up you lose. Obviously, that is a very on-paper situation but its this uncertainty that I don't enjoy playing around. In previous metagames, there were always unsets but there was usually some drawback to running these sets. For example, if you ran Aura Sphere Togekiss to his Stakataka in SSRU, you missed out on the Flame burn chance. If you ran Drill Run Golisopod to hit like Toxicroak or smth in SS or SM you sacrificed running knock, spikes, or some other desirable move that is generally more consistent. In SV, this doesn't really apply to a full extent. Many Pokemon do not have to commit to the same degree as the previous examples do. For example, Krookodile can just run Gunk Shot and Oricorio just has to run Revelation Dance and they could still be fully effective without Tera. Only when a pokemon runs Tera Blast, it is committing to Tera and a drawback arises in the set. To reach full potential of Tera Electric Cloyster, it has to run Tera Blast which will be often useless (there are some utilities but it is not good enough to justify running the move without tera) unless you Tera the Cloyster. However, this does not make Cloyster tera reliant and it can still function as a late game cleaner without Tera. The problem with this comes when you must reactively deal with these Tera setup mons as there is no way of telling what tera it might be. You can try to scout the tera in advance but if you don't have the right offensive counterplay to deal with a potential set up, you often just lose as your scouting might have just allowed it to set up. I could go on about Tera interactions but that is not the point; the point is that Tera allows more and more pokemon to run unexpected coverage that you can not reactively deal with assuming both sides are playing optimally. The answer is to play proactive. That is how you beat cloyster, revavroom, or whatever consistently and that is the only way you beat these pokemon consistently. I don't like that. I don't like that I am restricted answer these threats that way and that way only. In previous tiers there were obviously pokemon that encouraged proactive play, but they either had enough reactive counterplay or they were so weak to aggressive play that they are either difficult to fit in teams or not difficult to force out aggressively. I think the best example of this is Togekiss in SS as you could reactively go into Regi and try to Toxic it, or aggressively force it out with a Raikou or Aerodactyl. Playing against these Tera setup sweepers is like playing against Togekiss in that sense (not the flinch hax LOL) except consistently beating these threats is only possible by aggessive/proactive play.

But I don't think the paragraph above is even the biggest problem with the tier. I think the biggest issue with the tier comes from the lack of role compression within the tier. It is very difficult to be creative in this tier simply because the options for basic team needs like stealth rocks and a hazard remover are so limited. It is so difficult to make new cores and interesting teams when the only defog option is Altaria, which is passive and the team structure to work differently (it is NOT a pokemon you just throw on teams). The only Ground types worth really considering are Mudsdale, Krook, and Toads which isn't awful itself I suppose, but in combination with other restrictions just really limits what you can do. And then there are no ways of compression of these roles. There is no Ground type that resists fairy, there is no hazard that offers speed control, there is no solid bulky water that can be thrown on to teams like Milotic or Jellicent (Vapo is similar to Altaria in the sense you cannot throw it on teams without changing the structure of the team), and amongst other absences. Unless you deviate from the basic team requirements (which you can definitely do and succeed with, basic team requirements are really just boxes that lead to consistent teambuilding), it is difficult to be creative IN CORE BUILDING in such a restricted dex, coupled with the lack of moves meaning that knock off and toxic are so heavily restricted. Notice how I capitalized IN CORE BUILDING because I am NOT saying you can't get creative with this tier. There are several of niche breakers and other cool pokemon that can make great use of tera, or not need tera, that allow for fun variance in the tier.

I think for me, the design competitive wise of the new pokemon is the best part for me. Arboliva, Bellibolt, Grafaiai, Brute Bonnet, and others are really fun to use because they are so unique from everything else. Then seeing how pokemon that already existed use Tera is fun as there are some really creative applications, but as mentioned there are some applications that aren't fun.

I have little doubt that once the DLCs drop, SV can be more fun for me as the limited dex is my main issue. The tera thing still frustrates me to no end but I'll have to see beyond that. I want to encourage others to post about their opinion on the current metagame because there are people that enjoy this kinda stuff and I want to see their point of view. Thanks for reading.
 
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So, tier shifts happened. These are the relevant drops for the tier (with the only losses being gardevoir and indeedee-m). We got 2 spinners, some new rockers/spikers, new defensive toys and some offensive THREATS. The one I'm personally interested in is:

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Tornadus (M) @ Damp Rock
Ability: Prankster
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Taunt

FINALLY, THE RAIN SETTER THAT CAN ACTUALLY ABUSE RAIN. Even though the lack of knock off sucks, you still have enough tools to secure rain while also being an offensive menace. The EV spread needs to be adjusted once the speed tiers stabilize, but the core idea is still there.

Exited to see the other mons shine <3
 

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