Project SV RU: The Next Best Thing (Week 23: Cyclizar) (Votings Open)

[Rarelyme]

Alright time to vote guys ! Thanks to all of you who submitted !

1/ Metronome RestChesto by Elec-ant1234
2/ Swords Dance Balloon by Bruxish supremacy
3/ Choice Band by HoopsspooH
4/ Eject Pack by nameless90

Hard to decide this week but I will reward originality because it's a set I haven't thought about when preparing this week so props to you nameless I'll be voting 4, Eject Pack sets are always sick. (back to top 1 vote btw)

 

[MachJacob]

4

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

2 cause I focus on the "helps to make the metagame evolve"

 

[zaeoy]

4

 

[Bice]

4

 

[HoopsspooH]

2

 

[woodgoldtwo]

1 for the funny

 

[Hyper bol]

2

 

[Rarelyme]

Thanks to all voters ! Congratulation to nameless90 for winning this week with their Eject Pack set! Our runner-up Bruxish supremacy deserves a shout-out as well because this was a close week, very good job you two !

votes

1 --> 1 point
2 --> 3 points
3 --> 0 points (very cool set tho)
4 --> 4 points

 

[Rarelyme]

WEEK 22
WEATHER SETTERS

Let's spruce things up a bit this week ! After the November shifts, the RarelyUsed became the tier where all weathers can collide thanks to Ninetales and Tyranitar dropping and Politoed being unbanned from RUBL. As we already had a week on Tyranitar, it will not be included for this one and we will rather focus on the other two: Ninetales and Politoed. You can opt for a set dedicated on setting the rain or sun up and act as a support Pokemon afterwards or chose violence and design a setter that constitute a real threat on its own. These sets don't have to be part of rain or sun team, these Pokemon can work on their own as well. Be sure to explain your choices in terms of support moves, item or tera as they will all be key to put your work above the others. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to share your most creative Ninetales or Politoed sets and explain them in order to contribute to the growth of the RU metagame.

banned set

From the samples:

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Encore
- Ice Beam
- Endeavor

no banned set for Ninetales

Submission deadline: Sets should be submitted by 11:59 pm GMT+1 on Friday, November 24th,
Voting deadline: votes will go until 11:59 pm GMT+1 on Sunday, November 26th.

This week will be one of my last if not my last as host of the Next Best Thing. It has been over seven amazing months and I'm afraid I won't have time to keep up with the project as I am committing to other things both on Smogon and outside. If you are interested in hosting the Next Best Thing and continuing the thread, I will be more than happy to leave it to another passionate user so feel free to contact me on Discord (rarelyme). In the meantime, I want to thank everyone who participated, you are the reason this thread worked as well as it did and know that I am very glad I hosted this project and hope you had as much fun as I did with it. <3​

 

[nameless90]

Bulky setter Ninetales

Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Water
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Night Shade
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day

Here we have an unusual attempt to make good use of Ninetales. Since its SpA it is already middling, I don't think it is worthy to use EVs on the SpA. It has access to Nasty Plot and Fake Tears, but I don't think that its typing allows Ninetales to set-up that easy. I don't think that wasting a Tera on this pokemon is worth because I think that there are more useful pokemon that can use Tera with more benefits.

Flamethrower is the STAB and can still OHKO a target weak 4x to Fire such as Abomasnow (without taking in account the Tera, of course), but Night Shade is a good 2nd attacking because it deals always 100 dmaage when hits, regardless of resistances and defenses.
Will-O-Wisp is often a gem on those offensive (or offensivish)-inclined pokemon because it catches off-guard Ground/Rock checks/counters that often are physical attackers. In the 4th slot I picked Sunny Day in order to cancel the opposing weather, especially if Abomasnow has Aurora Veil. It is also a way to fix that bad physical side.
Tera type Water because it is a good defensive typing just in case you need to tank something.

Heat Rock is a must in a supportive set because 8 turns are enough to let your teammates make good use of Sun
The EVs spread is a generic bulky fast one, in order to use our two status moves as fast as possible.

Team support
Due to playing even Sunny Day with Heat Rock in order to ensure that the Sun is up, you are allowed to run some techs with a lot more ease:

• Chlorophyll/Leaf Guard as abilities
• Synthesis that in Sun heals more than Roost/Recover/Slack Off
• Solar Beam/Solar Blade on attackers without relying entirely on Power Herb
• Protosynthesis without the need of Booster Energy, so you can use another item
• You now lower the weakness to Water, while reducing the accuracy of Hurricane to the point it becomes a gamble
• .....and so on.

In return, Ninetales appreciates hazards control support because it doesn't run moves to recherge its health.

 

[Elec-ant1234]

Here comes the sun...

Ninetales @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Will-O-Wisp
- Healing Wish
- Flamethrower

A bulky sun setter that can provide status support and heal up it's teammates. Pairs best with mons that benefit from sun, such as slither wing, fire types that appreciate the 50% damage boost to fire type attacks (something that is absolutely massive, basically a free choice specs) and Mons that can keep hazards off of the field, since it's weak to all hazards. It's entire role is basically to rest up so that it can come in as many times as possible, and use healing wish to make sure the next sun abuser can heal to full.

Also I'm sad to hear that you'll be leaving as the host of Next Best Thing Rarely. It's been an honor to be along for the ride so far, and I'm hoping that this last NBT is a great one!

 

[Bruxish supremacy]

Offensive Ninetales!

Ninetales is imho a very underrated option. Its usually ran as a mediocre sun setter with moves like wisp roar healing wish etc.. However Meet the last gens RU superstar [pre dlc2] Offensive Ninetales!

Ninetales @ Heavy-Duty Boots/Choice Specs/Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Fire/Grass
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot/Weather Ball/Healing Wish
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Energy Ball

Ninetales is a mon that the tier to put it bluntly doesnt have many great switchins except for 2 mons which unfortunately completly ruins I Ofcourse I am talking about Politoed and Tyranitar. However They can get chipped with repeated energy balls on switch and after a few could no longer check it well. I have solar beam just to help better in that vaporeon and milotic matchup if they'r haze. Ninetales is really strong poke after a plot. just look at this calc.

+2 252 SpA Ninetales Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Vaporeon: 396-466 (85.3 - 100.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
even offensive ttar isnt that good into it let alone Politoed. Specs is cool breaker but idt its that good because it reduces tales ability to repeatedly barrage the opponent by outlasting them. Scarf is cool option as its like a worse sidegrade to gardevoir but its significantly faster crucially outspeeds scarf krook.


Teammates that love to lure ttar and politoed are really appreciated as partners. Slither Wing is a natural partner due to its ability to pivot while benifitting from protosynthesis and its recovery getting ludicrous! Focus Blast Iron Jugulis is cool ttar lure too!

Overall Ninetales is a really underexplored offensive mon thats really nuclear in the tier rn and I hope it gets looked at more and more instead of just being a sun bot..

+2 252 SpA Tera Fire Ninetales Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Diancie in Sun: 142-168 (46.7 - 55.2%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Ninetales Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Diancie: 154-182 (50.6 - 59.8%) -- 81.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Ninetales Weather Ball (100 BP Fire) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro in Sun: 214-252 (54.3 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Thank you for reading this . Hope you have a nice day :)

 

[HoopsspooH]

Politoed @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Encore
- Surf
- Rest

This is the set I use on rain. Hypnosis and encore for disruption, rest to last for longer. I use tera fairy cus it’s a naturally good type, but in a maushold metagame i can see tera ghost being good as well. Very bulky mon that allows threats like Barraskewda, Basculegion, and other threats to switch in while the opposing mom is snoozing.

 

[Malpheasant]

Ninetales @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Flamethrower
- Energy Ball
- Substitute / Weather Ball

Lots of auto weather here now, isn't there? I am calling this Ninetales set the Weather Destroyer, as it is engineered specifically to beat all other usable weather setters in RU for supremacy under any conditions. This set does not serve as sun support like a typical Ninetales set would. On the contrary, its purpose is to punish weather in general, which allows many other archetypes to flourish for your other 5 teammates.

Calcs

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Grass Ninetales Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Politoed: 400-476 (104.1 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Grass Ninetales Energy Ball vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 374-439 (109.6 - 128.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tera Grass Ninetales Energy Ball vs. 252 HP / 180 SpD Hippowdon: 585-689 (139.2 - 164%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Ninetales Flamethrower vs. 168 HP / 0 SpD Abomasnow: 1279-1503 (352.3 - 414%) -- guaranteed OHKO

The combination of Nasty Plot and Flamethrower is relatively standard for the power and accuracy. Tera Grass on the same turn as a Nasty Plot gets the jump on Politoed and Tyranitar and threatens a nasty OHKO in return, even though they changed the weather. Flamethrower obviously always gets rid of Abomasnow no matter what, and Hippowdon is easily taken down by Energy Ball. The lack of Drought may seem silly at first glance, but the Flash Fire ability ensures that this set beats opposing Ninetales, even if you go Tera Grass.

Substitute is very useful here on the turn you scare out the other setters, and it particularly protects Ninetales against swaps to Pokemon with speed advantages in certain weather. For example, using Substitute as Abomasnow switches out protects Ninetales against Cetitan's Slush Rush-boosted Earthquake later, so that it can safely Flamethrower back in return for the KO. Weather Ball can be used alternatively to have unique ways to punish teams with their own weather, such as offering a strong boosted Water-type attack against neutral rain team targets like Thundurus or Tornadus, which both resist Energy Ball and aren't hurt much by Flamethrower in rain.

 

[Hyper bol]

Specs Politoed !


Politoed @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Tera Blast

Choice Specs Politoed just works like Specs Pelipper in OU... but in RU. It can also surprise an opposing pokemon that thinks he is safe against Politoed. Hydro Pump does a lot of damage to mons that are not Umbreon or Chansey, and Ice Beam and Tera Blast Grass gives it the perfect coverage to hit Dragalge, Grass-Types, Vaporeon, Milotic and Quagsire. Surf is here as a second STAB if you need precision and PP over power.

Calcs :
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Fezandipiti: 190-225 (50.1 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Grass Politoed Tera Blast vs. 252 HP / 140+ SpD Milotic: 224-266 (56.8 - 67.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Grass Politoed Tera Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Vaporeon: 348-410 (75 - 88.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Grass Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Dragalge: 212-250 (63.4 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Muk-Alola: 166-196 (40 - 47.3%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

It's sad that you have to stop hosting The Next Best Thing ): I hope this set is worth the last week of TNBT !

 

[Rarelyme]

Thanks to all of you who submitted a set ! It's time to vote now:
1/Bulky Sun Support with Night Shade by nameless90
2/Bulky Sun Support with Healing Wish + Rest Elec-ant1234
3/Offensive Boots by Bruxish supremacy - 3 items is too much so please only consider the HDB set as it's the one they explained the most
4/Specially Defensive by HoopsspooH
5/Life Orb Nast Plot by Malpheasant
6/Choice Specs by Hyper bol

Lots of great sets this week so props to you ! My vote will go for 6 with a special mention to 3 as it's a set I've used and it's epic.

 

[HoopsspooH]

5

 

[nameless90]

6
especially because Politoed can run a Modest nature, so it's Water STAB hits really hard under the Rain

 

[MachJacob]

6

 

[Rarelyme]

Congratulation to Hyper bol for winning this week with their :politeod:Choice Specs set ! Good job to all of you and thanks to all voters as well. The Hall of Fame will be updated shortly.

I will now leave my seat to AyushKr_PKMN for them to take over the thread as your new host !

 

[Ayush_1]

Thank you very much Rarelyme . It's night here, so I might take over in the next 12 hrs or something!!!

 

[Elec-ant1234]

Congrats Hyper bol for the win! Twas a good last NBT, and I'm excited to see what Ayush can pull off! And Rarely, thanks for doing alla this, appreciate it big time! It was a good run all the way through, and I enjoyed it all.

 

[woodgoldtwo]

Just keep the pokedex cover screenshots and I’ll be happy

 

[Ayush_1]

Hello to the RU Metagame, I'm Ayush, you new host!!! I hope you all like my style of presenting the project. I vow to continue Rarelyme 's legacy, and continue to make this project the best of the best!!! Feel free to tell me your suggestions & grievances, I'll definitely try to look after it!!

Submissions Open

Week 23: Cyclizar

With great speed tiers, decent offensive stats & access to some amazing utility moves, Cyclizar finds its place at the top of the Viability Rankings!! Let's see if you can find some underexplored, but extraordinary sets!!​

Banned Sets

Cyclizar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Tera Type: Fairy / Electric / Ghost
Timid / Jolly / Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn
- Overheat / Double-Edge / Draco Meteor / Dragon Tail

Cyclizar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 112 HP / 144 SpD / 252 Spe
Tera Type: Fairy / Electric / Ghost
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Overheat / Dragon Tail / Draco Meteor
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Submissions Deadline: Tuesday, December 12, 7:30 AM GMT

Voting Deadline: Tuesday, December 19, 7:30 AM GMT