Project The SV UU Research Academy - Week 6 - Quaquaval & Iron Leaves (& Decidueye)

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Amazing art by Gaboswampert
THE SV UU RESEARCH ACADEMY
Co-hosted by BigFatMantis Mystras Leoxses and DraconicLepus

Welcome everyone to the SV UU Research Academy! Here we will conduct research every week with regard to SV UU Pokemon, as well as host competitions for you, the newest Researchers, to help with! Here is a breakdown of how this all works (following blurb partially stolen from SS UU OP):

In this project, participants research suggested Pokemon every week and share their experience.

Keep the following things in mind during every Research Week:


  • Be open-minded. Don't just say something is terrible and walk away; look at its stats, typing and movepool and think something up!
  • Feel free to theorymon early in the research period, but make it clear you're doing so. Later in the period, however, you will be expected to back up your posts with hard evidence like logs, actual sets, and perhaps even teams.
  • Just because an analysis has been done for a Pokemon doesn't mean there isn't more to explore; it's very likely that something has gone unnoticed.
  • Do not post in this thread complaining about the Pokemon or movesets we choose and / or suggesting ones we should do for future weeks. Feel free to VM / PM us these suggestions, but don't expect us to always accept them.
Additionally, you will earn points from the Three Different Main Events during research week! These points will help you climb the Research Hierarchy and eventually earn you a spot as part of the permanent faculty! Here are the main events:
  1. Official Ladder Research (Main Event): The winner of the challenge will be the person who has the highest ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder with their RW alt at the time the challenge ends. Winners will also receive a permanent spot in this thread's Hall of Fame and get +10 RPs(Research Points)
  2. Friday Research Tour: On Fridays, a "Research Tour" will be conducted as a UU Room Tour in the PS UU Room. This will typically be a separate "what if" topic where something is either banned or unbanned to see how the meta adjusts to it. The winner of the Research Tour gets +5 RPs for the week.
  3. Documented Findings: The most important part of Research Week, this is where you can post your findings on anything related to this Research Week. Any post on this topic will get you +5 RPs. Making an "exemplary effort post" (i.e. contains detailed set, description, pros, cons, good teammates, and findings supported by several replays) will get you +5 RPs extra. Insightful Commentary on another Researcher's post (not just a one-liner, but something meaningful, at least 5 sentences, use of their actual team/set w/ a replay encouraged) will additionally grant you +5 RPs (can only get this +5 bonus once per week, so does not stack if you respond to 10 different people)
So in a hypothetical world, you could accumulate up to 30 points in a single research week!

Here is the breakdown of what your points can earn you, and what perks the top positions give:
  • Honorary Deans of Science and Technology (450 points - get an actual vote (if you want) in what will be researched next week)
  • Faculty Department Heads (250 points - can request 1 mon/set per week to put on a voting slate for next week)
  • Tenured Professors (150 points - can suggest things to be tested for research week tours)
  • Adjunct Faculty (75 points - get a cooler title!)
  • Research Assistant (40 points - you are on the Research Academy list!)
We keep track of all scores even if you are not on the leaderboard.

A few things to clarify:

  • Sign-ups can be as late as you want, but the week will usually end on Sunday.
  • Please remember to post and save your replays. Often, these replays are the most informative sources of information about RW Pokemon - you can write a full two paragraphs about the role of a Pokemon, but often that can all be summed up with a video and an explanation of it. How useful are these Pokemon in SV UU? What gives them trouble? What advantages do they have over other Pokemon? How well do they work in the metagame? If you have anything to say about any of these Pokemon, please post about them! Remember, discussion is not limited to this topic, you are encouraged to talk about these Pokemon in the UU chat on Pokemon Showdown, in the official UU Discord, and in the Viability Ranking Thread.
Week 1, and the Pokemon chosen, will be up in the morning GMT-8! Stay tuned!
 

Hall of Fame ★
Winner: pomfpomfpluff
Orthworm @ Any Item
Ability:
EVs:
- (NO SHED TAIL)
-
-
-
Lokix @ Any Item
Ability:
EVs:
-
-
-
-
Winner: pomfpomfpluff
Pawmot
Ability: any
-
-
-
-
Gyarados
Ability: any
- Taunt
-
-
-
Winner: pomfpomfpluff
Wo-Chien
Ability: Tablets of Ruin
- Leech Seed
-
-
-
Oricorio (-Pom-Pom / -Sensu)
Ability: any
-
-
-
-
pomfpomfpluff
Scizor
Ability: any
- Trailblaze
-
-
-
Weavile
Ability: any
-
-
-
-
pomfpomfpluff
Brute Bonnet Loaded Dice
Ability: Protosynthesis
- Bullet Seed
-
-
-
Naclstack
Ability: any
-
-
-
-
pomfpomfpluff
Quaquaval
Ability:
- Bulk Up
-
-
-
Iron Leaves
Ability: any
-
-
-
-
Decidueye
Ability:
-
-
-
-
DiannieRatson
Cyclizar
Ability:
-
-
-
-
Armarogue Choice Specs
Ability:
-
-
-
-



---
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The SV UU Research Academy ★
Deans: BigFatMantis Mystras Leoxses DraconicLepus

Honorary Deans of Science and Technology (450 points)
(n/a)

Faculty Department Heads (250 points)
(n/a)

Tenured Professors (150 points)
(n/a)

Adjunct Faculty (75 points)
Pomfpomfpluff
DiannieRatson

Research Assistant (40 points)
lavarina
 
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Week 1
ALT CODE: SVRW1(name)​

For Week 1, after much internal deliberation, we have selected Orthworm and Lokix as the research subjects!

:sv/Orthworm:

Orthworm
Ability: Earth Eater
- (NO SHED TAIL)
-
-
-


Orthworm is quite a pokemon - Shed Tail has taken over this generation's offense, but can it function well without being an HO passer? It has tremendous defense, a broken ability, and a pretty good support movepool with hazards, as well as Body Press to not be totally passive. Will you make a non-Shed Tail Orthworm team work?

:sv/Lokix:

Lokix
Ability: Tinted Lens
-
-
-
-


Can a first route bug take on UU? With Tinted Lens and First Impression, as well as an superb offensive typing in Bug/Dark, it will certainly do its best! Feel free too use any Lokix set - there are lots of possibilities here as Lokix has a great offensive movepool. Band, Life Orb, Scarf, Boots, SD, etc. are all options, or something totally different! Can you put the magic together as Lokix makes a big impression on SV UU?

-

If you are unsure on how to write a report for research week, feel free to use this template as a base (NOTE: you DON'T have to use this template, it's only if you are unsure how to really get your report going):

Code:
INTRO: (write a little blurb here, w/e you want)

Orthworm

:Orthworm:

SETS USED:

Orthworm @ z
Ability: Earth Eater
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Orthworm shows it is the worm of the day")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Orthworm fails to be anything more than escargot")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)
-
:Lokix:

SETS USED:

Lokix @ z
Ability: x
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Lokix ascends to the throne")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Lokix has truly ran out of steam")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)


In order to participate you must do the following:

Post here with a fresh RW alt (such as SVRW1 Wormeater or SVRW1Bugthug ) and the name(s) of the Pokemon you will be using.
Use at least one of the Pokemon being researched.
Post your experiences with the Pokemon you're using, participate in the discussion!
Be sure to follow the instructions in the OP - use your words and your replays to really hammer the point home!
The goal is to get points through the 3 main events - The winner of the main event will be the person who has the highest ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder with their RW alt at the time the challenge ends. Winners will also receive a permanent spot in this thread's Hall of Fame.
This week will end on January 30 at 11:59 PM GMT-5. Have fun everyone!!
 

Queen of Bean

is a Community Contributor
UUPL Champion
:orthworm: research week 1 :lokix:

to start off with i wanna talk about my experience with lokix, i was using it as a choice banded breaker/pivot as i think thats its best set. this set turns lokix into a really excellent revenge kill of boosted threats like salamence and polteagiest because of tinted lense first impression, this set also uses its unresisted u turns to chip opposing teams down and has leech life to keep it healthy and just be a strong neutral move. for a dark move i ran throat chop because i think being choice locked into sucker punch feels a bit awkward alot of the time (also if you find a random sylveon or something it turns off hyper voice) i opted not to run axe kick or another non stab move because it will almost always be stronger just to click a stab u turn or leech life and axe kick has the scary 10% to cut your hp in half with a miss. i experimented with heavy duty boots and life orb sets but i found that boots just doesnt pack as much of a punch as banded often falling short on killing things like bulky dd mence and ttar, and life orb chipps you down way too fast with you taking hazards damage on top of 10% with every attack. and it still falls short on some koes.
Lokix @ Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Throat Chop
- U-turn
- Leech Life
 
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Slip

dancing to alarm bells
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Hello all today I would like to write my report about what I learned during this research week! I decided to focus on setup sets this week as I wanted the 2 pokemon here to shine the brightest on the teams I made, and this got me some interesting results.


Lokix is a cool pokemon with a great ability to make it's attacks stronger, great speed for the tier, and has access to priority in order to help it sweep teams. Lokix is most commonly used with a banded set, but I decided to try out the SD set on a hyper offensive team instead.

Lokix @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug/Fire/Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leech Life
- Sucker Punch
- Protect

Lokix bug/dark typing with tinted lens does an excellent job breaking through this tier after a swords dance, and it suprisingly isn't too hard to get one off with most teams having to run gastrodon or a pokemon a bit more passive that lokix can heal off of. I put protect on this set as it's stabs do enough damage and being able to stop first impressions from OHKO'ing you is very important. I also faced a lot of dittos on the ladder and quickly learned that it also helps scouting out what move they will lock themselves into so you can tera to avoid sucker punch KO's or sucker punch to not take a leech life from them. Tera typing is pretty up in the air as bug helps leech life collect kills, fire stops burns from talonflame, and ghost stops lucario from revenge killing with extreme speed.

Team: https://pokepast.es/77be5a737cedf66e
The team itself is pretty straight forward. Scream Tail sets up rocks and screens for the team and the 5 sweepers take care of the rest. I also used forretress over haxorus for hazard control for a while, but overall decided that I didn't need the hazard control and would prefer to have Haxorus to deal with certain pokemon I can't remember having trouble with. Overall it's a half decent team but SD lokix on HO is definitely a bit of a joke as there are a lot better HO options.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1783244279
This shows off lokix taking down a relatively standard BO team even beating a +1 bulk up slither wing thanks to tera bug leech life. You are able to get through a surprising amount of obsticles with this especially when your opponent misplays as badly as mine did here with slowbro. Overall I do believe this shows just how nicely lokix can deal with some of the pokemon in this tier.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1783199530
This team is anything but standard, but as shown lokix baits the ditto into locking itself into leech life before sucker punching it to death easily due to the frailty of the pokemon along with the tinted lens boost to make sure the kill is secured.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now let's talk about Orthworm.

(no moving sprite lmao)
Orthworm is a very interesting tank with it's official status in my mind being "skarmory at home." It's defense stat is amazing, but everything else is par to subpar. I mentioned a while ago in the np thread about a coil orthworm set that may be an idea to look into as orthworm usually has room to run heavy slam along with body press for pretty good coverage. I decided to take this idea a step even further (in the wrong direction).

Orthworm @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Impish Nature
- Curse
- Body Press
- Metal Burst
- Rest

Curse is an overlooked move on orthworm as coil gives not only the same boosts, but also raises accuracy instead of lowering speed. I thought to myself "what move would allow me to use curse over coil due to wanting the speed drop?" and I eventually came up with this abomination. Metal Burst is a move that allows users to deal back 1.5x the amount of damage. I did not know this damage does not get amplified by attack boosts until after testing this set (lol), but my results also have the same conclusion for the coil set I would have tested instead, so my time wasn't completely wasted.

Team: https://pokepast.es/b24a4996603c21c9
Honestly this team is pretty poor and I could have done a lot better setting it up for Orthworm, so some of the failure is definitely on me. It is a pretty standard BO idea where I figured everything had a pretty good chance at killing Sp. Atk users for Orthworm to then set up some curses and sweep. I put 252 spdef into orthworm to try to salvage the horrendous spdef for Metal Burst to kill opponents as a surprise, but it is still abismal regardless of investments and drops like a fly.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1783037901
My other replay got destroyed, but here is a replay of Orthworm solo'ing Kilowattrel before I get greedy and try to set up on opposing set up Salemence (it had iron defense who woulda thought). But overall the first 5 turns of this replay is a big lol moment like lmao.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall Thoughts / TL;DR
The setup sets are pretty fun to use and I think metal burst might unironically be a looked over move on Orthworm. Lokix SD has been floating around some, so I was happy to finally use it. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one running protect on it, but maybe this has inspired some others to try out the exact set I used. Protection from First Impression and Ditto means a lot for this guy. Overall I'd give sweeper Lokix a B and curse Orthworm a D+. I think from now on I will be keeping my Orthworms more as a pure defensive tank, but maybe I'll sneak metal burst in the final move slot every now and again.

Thanks to BFM, Mystras, and Draconic for putting this on I had a lot more fun than I thought I would!
 
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I'm coming here to announce the topic for our first First Research Tour! These will be live room tours. They will happen in the UU Pokemon Showdown room every Friday now that the Research Academy has begun!

For this one coming tomorrow we're going to be discussing the topic of removal in the current UU meta. We all know that the options for removal are currently limited so we wanted to ask: what would happen if there wasn't any?

So for this week we're going to have a tour where all forms of removal are banned to see how it would effect the metagame! This live room tour will happen tomorrow, Jan 27th at 2 pm EST (GMT -5) in the UU showdown room.

We hope to see you join us then!
 
Ok so, I've never used Lokix before, and I thought that after roughly 45 games (counting both ladder and roomtours), I can say that Lokix is a lot worse than I thought. I used to think that Lokix is a B+ viable mon, but after using it, I can't see it being any higher than B-. I'll admit that I've been using a bad team, which was in the spirit of research week, since I'm trying to test new sets instead of focusing solely on Lokix. But still, it is just painful how much it is outclassed by Slither Wing. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that Lokix does better than Slither Wing. Don't bring up Salamence and Gyarados, because Lokix needs Tera Bug to OHKO those, and if you want to bring up tera, then I can just make the argument for a defensive tera like steel on Slither Wing, which also takes care of both of those. Or even better, just use another Pokemon with a defensive tera to handle those 2. Also, please don't bring up Noivern, for the love of god, if Noivern doesn't tera into a normal type, it's not a threat. I've tried 2 different sets for Lokix, cause I wanted to try something new for research week.

:sv/lokix: @ :silver powder:
Lokix @ Silver Powder
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Assurance / Leech Life
- Taunt

At first I tried using Taunt + 3 Attacks set, because it looked like the one thing that could make Lokix stand out over Slither Wing. It wasn't very good. Not only was it still kind of weak, even with Silver Powder, but it also doesn't get too much use out of Taunt, because of how frail it is. Like, sure, taunting Gastro to stop it from using Recover is nice and all, but that works once, because the next time you try to use Taunt, they'll just Ice Beam you for 40, or Surf you for 60. That's the main issue with Taunt Lokix, it can't really switch into the things it wants to Taunt, because of how frail it is. You don't have that issue with Slither Wing, because it actually has respectable special bulk. That is another issue with Lokix, it has to use Choice Band, there is no other item it can use. Heavy-Duty-Boots and Protective Pads Lokix are absolutely pathetic in terms of damage, and even Silver Powder just isn't that strong. The issue with Silver Powder is, you bluff the Choice Band First Impression, but like, you're not even that good at punishing something that tries to set up, because unlike Silver Powder Slither Wing, you don't have a strong secondary STAB, or a coverage move coming off of high attack, to punish those Pokemon. So, after using Taunt Lokix, for roughly 15-20 games, I switched to Choice Band Lokix, which ran into another issue.

:sv/lokix: @ :choice band:
Lokix @ Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- U-turn
- Assurance
- Tera Blast

I've tried using Tera Blast Rock Lokix, to catch Talonflames. However, that set runs into an issue, Lokix needs tera bug to get all the important kills (another reason why i don't believe it to be good). It needs tera bug to get the kills on Slither Wing, Gyarados, Staraptor and offensive DD Mence. The issue is, if you use tera bug, then Lokix is just dead weight against every single Talonflame matchup. You need to knock Talonflame and have it burn through 8 roosts, before Lokix is able to do anything. You can use Tera Rock to circumvent that, and like, it is funny to OHKO Talonflame on the switch, but when you use tb rock you just realize that it's a Slither Wing that has to tera to kill TFlame. Assurance is funny cause you get to OHKO Tinkaton on the switch, but like, so does Slither Wing with CC. Having the rock type is at least good for being neutral to rocks, but now you have the worst defensive typing (not that it really matters too much, since Lokix is already way too frail). There are a few other moves Lokix can run, but none of them are really great, since Lokix has such a limited movepool. Feint sounds funny on paper, to counter mons that use Protect to counter First Impression, until you realize that the most common user of that is Polteageist, which is immune to Feint pre-tera. And even after tera, Feint only does 25%-29%. Sleep Talk can work on the 4th slot, because there really isn't anything better you could use. Like, I don't recommend it, but what else do you have? It can't use Sucker Punch, because being locked in Sucker Punch is the worst thing possible, and it doesn't offer anything of value. Like, what, are you trying to beat Protect Polteageist? It's just going to Protect/Shell Smash 8 times. Trying to beat Gengar? It'll just Sub/Trick/Will-O/Taunt/Nasty Plot 8 times. Like, if Gengar is choice locked, sure you can Sucker, but you can also just not use Sucker, bluff that you have it, cause really, you'll only use 2 moves for the whole game anyways, and they'll switch thinking that you'll Sucker Punch. Don't use Sucker Punch, unless you're trying to get exploited by anything with a status move. Sure, it can work on ladder, but if the argument is that your opponent makes bad plays, then I can just bring up a bunch of bad Pokemon and that argument is gone.

Lokix has honestly just really disappointed me. I went into it with 0 expectations, and it still managed to somehow disappoint me. I'll give Lokix a second shot with a better team around it, cause I've mostly just been experimenting with a bunch of new weird sets, which resulted in the team not having synergy. The sets have actually really surprised me, and I'll make a post about them in the creative and underrated sets thread, so read up on that if you're interested in hearing about DD + Iron Defense Salamence, PhysDef Volt Switch Iron Thorns, and max speed Wo-Chien.
As I said, I'll give Lokix a second shot with a better team, so you'll see another post from me on Lokix, most likely. I'll also be saving my replays for that post, since it's better to share more replays at once, than just 2 for now, and more later.
 
So I've always been interested in using Orthworm as a purely defensive mon ever since Moute made that post about Shed Tail Orthworm being kinda mid (which is a sentiment I 100% agree with), but I never really went for it simply because Shed Tail is such a fun move to spam. This all happened within the timeframe that Baxcalibur was legal, so back then Orthworm actually had an extremely solid defensive niche, which sadly got lost as soon as people realised that Orthworm's defensive utility in this Fighting and Fire infested tier was basically nonexistant. So in the end I never got to test my hypothesis, atleast until one of my friends decided to repeatedly pester me about this "research academy" thing that I immediately got hooked on and wouldn't you know it, Orthworm was on the very first slate. My team style of choice ended being stall as usual and let's just say that Orthworm's place on the team was.......... interesting to say the least. After going 19/0 with 82.5 GXE while using the exact same team I now feel qualified enough to finally talk about it in depth.



Orthworm @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Protect

First things first I'll just quickly go over the team and what role Orthworm fills on it. My thought process for building the team was extremely basic up until the Orthworm addition since the first 4 mons are essentially autoincludes on most stall builds right now, with only one of the mons actually having an interesting moveset adaptation. After Orthworm's addition it actually starts becoming interesting since you need to compress a lot of special threat checking onto one slot while also having a Knocker. Originally I just dropped Knock Off entirely and used Gastrodon, which worked on the defensive side but made the team struggle a lot with actually damaging the opponent. Wanting a Shocks sponge that gets Knock I decided to use Wo-Chien in that slot since it's good at shutting down common Volt Turn with Sub + protect to scout potentially choice locked moves aswell as walling and using Slowking for offensive momentum.

Orthworm's main defensive niche in the tier is as a check to essentially every DD user in the tier since it just Iron Defence's all over them and/or spams Body Press, so it'd make sense to pair it with mons that can take advantage of said pressure being taken off of them. This has a positive effect on the overall building process here since Alomomola and Quagsire don't need leftovers to consistently 1v1 DDers anymore, so I can just slap HDB on em and slap Spikes on Quag over my usual Haze. Orthworm also helps a lot with countering Choice Banded Tyranitar, which can be seen in this replay, which while not particularly good from a skill perspective still shows how Orthworm constantly puts pressure off Alomomola and Quagsire to counter CB Tar while also using Gastrodon as setup fodder. Orthworm learning Rocks also lets Blissey use an alternative set, which in this case is Calm Mind so that I can end stalemates easily (like the one in the replay).

Another thing it does decently is role compression, since it functions as both a hazard setter and as a lategame wincon. As seen in the previously mentioned replay, it existing essentially forced the Gengar to repeatedly take Spikes chip which allowed it alongside Blissey to easily chip it alongside CB Tar into Shadow Ball range. Orthworm pairs extremely well with other Special walls like Blissey for this very reason, since Protect + Spikes takes a lot of pressure off of Blissey to repeatedly switch in and take these extremely hard hitting attacks.

However Orthworm is also a pretty suboptimal Wincon and Rocker, since while compressing those 2 roles into 1 slot is valuable, it still can't really touch a lot of the metagame. In this replay my opponent is using both Talonflame and Slowking to stuff any attempted Body Press shenadigans and they also lack mons which Orthworm can take advantage of period, since the only mon it really switches into is Lokix which just U-Turns into Talonflame and forces it out. The only reason I'm able to win in the end is because of two Clutch Flame Body procs aswell as my opponent letting Quag Toxic their Dudunsparce. A team which otherwise would've easily been dealt with by any other Stall Team suddenly poses a massive threat toward you solely because your one rocker can't consistently get up rocks against a single one of their pokemon. In general any game with a Talonflame on the opposing side essentially just made the game into a 5v6 since Orthworm was so useless against it. That's kind of a recurring thing with Orthworm, it's dead weight against a lot of teams right now since it's not very good against most of the current top tier mons. I'm not gonna go in depth here because that'd be tedious but it only likes taking on 4/15 of the mons in "Great" tier within the official Viability List. Being so Knock Off weak is particularly a big issue since otherwise it'd be a good Grafaiai/Tinkaton/Donphan check, the lack of reliable recovery is genuinely detrimental to the point where 3 mons you on paper hard counter actually punish you severely with the addition of one move.

There are also a lot of issues with Orthworm on this team, such as it's overlapping weaknesses and strengths with other Stall staples. If you're using Orthworm you're essentially forced to ditch Tinkaton since you're lacking an actual Wincon, which is an issue since Tinkaton puts a lot of pressure off of Blissey to deal with Hurricane Spam. Having multiple dedicated physical walls just leaves me with a lack of space in general, but ditching Alomomola, Talonflame or Quagsire is not an option since they all contribute toward individually countering other Top Tier threats and/or pivoting around dangerous mons you can't consistently cover and Orthworms utility pales in comparison to this. In the end I needed to compress Knock Off + a Wincon + a Volt absorber into one Team Slot which forced me to use the otherwise suboptimal Wo-Chien. In this replay you can see this on full blast since my team is constantly pressured by Gengar + Iron Jugulis and the only reason I manage to win is because my opponent chokes and throws away all 3 of their breakers.

That's kind of the main issue with using Orthworm on stall teams. Because the playstyle has been solved for awhile at this point it becomes extremely hard to try and stray from said norm and trying to do so will often give you an objectively worse team since you end up with a mon that has overlapping weaknesses and strengths with your other stall staples. Orthworm by itself is not a bad pokemon, but with how stall has adapted to the metagame trends we've seen throughout the Alpha period until now it's just not worth using it as a filler pick since it just gets outclassed by other mons with better defensive utility. You end up with a mon that has overlapping weaknesses and strengths with your other stall staples.

Still though I can definitely see the potential that this mon has on Balance and SemiStall after using it here, since it genuinely has some fascinating utility and role compression that such teams could enjoy and I have in fact used it on a Balance team before alongside Spdef Scream-Tail for Wish Passing purposes and although I didn't personally like the team itself very much I can definitely see the idea behind it. It's definitely an interesting pokemon with loads of utility, but it just doesn't stack up well against most of the general metagame trends and the tiers focus on mons that it can't deal with very well.
 
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I haven't touched UU all that much ever since the terror of Baxcalibur and Hydreigon. Even after those bans, I didn't get the motivation to play. So when I saw this I went "ykw, i'll give it a try". And after wins and loses, here's my thoughts on Orthworm.

:sv/orthworm:
Orthworm @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater
Tera Type: Fairy/Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock/Spikes
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Heavy Slam

252 HP / 4 Atk / 240 Def / 12 SpD

Orthworm is usually known for its Shed Tail shenanigans, but taking it away gives it a different yet sort of expected role. IronPresser is its common and dare I say best set, shutting down most of the physical attackers you can find in the metagame. Just like what pomfpomfpluff said in their analysis, its main defensive niche is to shut down DD users such as Tyranitar, Gyarados and Salamence. Though you'd have to hope that Salamence doesn't have Flamethrower packed in. Which is one of its huge problems that I'll talk about later. It's a good switch into physical attackers, being able to use Iron Defense in front of them or set hazards if they switch. Having both Stealth Rocks and Spikes means you can fit either one that you want depending on your team. Once the opponent's special attackers are down, Orthworm can wall the rest until endgame or until it goes down for its teammates to finish up the match.

This replay shows how under the right conditions, Orthworm can thrive and win the game. The remaining Pokemon the opponent had do not have ways to deal with it properly. However, those conditions are pretty demanding to say the least. As it's got pretty glaring weaknesses:

1. :noivern: :gengar: Abysmal Special Defense :sandy-shocks: :iron-jugulis:
The most obvious to talk about. Even non-super effective hits make a dent on Orthworm due to how bad it is defensively on the special side. In here you can see that Orthworm managed to survive a Flamethrower from Noivern after Terastilizing, and this is with that 12 SpDef I greedily put into. If Noivern were specs or picked Boomburst perhaps, that definitely would've killed. And with the amount of strong special attackers running around, it's pretty hard to switch Orthworm in safely. And sometimes it ends up being deadweight due to that.

2. :grafaiai: Knock Off Weakness :tinkaton:

pomfpomfpluff explained it already right here
Being so Knock Off weak is particularly a big issue since otherwise it'd be a good Grafaiai/Tinkaton/Donphan check, the lack of reliable recovery is genuinely detrimental to the point where 3 mons you on paper hard counter actually punish you severely with the addition of one move.
Orthworm has no form of recovery, besides hoping that it gets to eat dirt. Hence why it has to rely on Leftovers and Leftovers only. If it's knocked off, then Orthworm would be set on a timer because it'll keep getting damaged without anyway of recovering back its HP. Take the replay I posted in point 1 to see what I mean. I have not met any Donphans who brought Knock Off, but Grafaiai and Tinkaton bring those all the time that it's always annoying to play around them.

3. :tauros-paldea-aqua: :talonflame: Worn Down Easily :hawlucha: :slither-wing:
The metagame is not all that nice to Orthworm. While it can switch into most physical attackers, it obviously can't switch into Fighting and Fire moves easily. And those are pretty common to find. If you already have Iron Defenses ready, then good for you. Terastilizing also helps out a lot if Orthworm is already in the field. Another annoying thing that wears it down however, are burns. Specifically those from Talonflame. It's practically the bane of all Orthworms' existences.

These three are the most obvious weaknesses for Orthworm. It can be a defensive staple, yet it needs quite the amount of support to do so. I've dabbled with various teams to try out stuff, and here's some teammates I thought worked nice with Orthworm.

:sv/gastrodon:
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Earth Power
- Recover
Gastrodon covers Orthworm's weakness to Fire and Fighting, while also simply being a good special wall and taking care of rain teams. And if Gastrodon were to ever Terastilize, it can rely on Orthworm's Earth Eater ability to help out its Ground weakness.

:sv/scream-tail:
Scream Tail @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Dazzling Gleam
- Encore

:sv/alomomola:
Alomomola @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Surf
- Whirlpool
- Protect
Leftovers knocked off? Use Wish! This thing does what it does best, and that's be fat and annoying. Of course, WishPassing isn't all that reliable, but it helps Orthworm's lack of recovery somewhat.

:orthworm: :orthworm: Conclusion :orthworm: :orthworm:
After playing a ton of games with this little fella, I have to admit that I'm impressed! Watching it sweep teams with IronPresser is funny, and it makes progress for the sweepers in my team such as Iron Jugulis and Tauros-Aqua. The metagame's pretty harsh for it, especially with all those Gengars and Talonflames running around. But at least now it's clear that maybe Orthworm isn't just stuck to Shed Tail shenanigans after all. Hopefully this funny worm will keep thriving.
 
SVRW1 UU Diannie

Orthworm and Lokix

(Work-in-progress. Will edit to respond to other researcher's findings and conclusions too)

INTRO: I decided to use both Orthworm and Lokix since they do different roles anyways. Orthworm will be the physical blanket check while Lokix will break teams with its attacks or be the fast pivot with U-turn. I have two teams which I would say that was successful out of many mon combinations I tried during the several days that I spent doing this research for like at least 5 games a day. That’s it for my intro I guess and let me move on to discussing Orthworm first.

Orthworm

:Orthworm:

SET USED:
Orthworm @ Leftovers
Ability: Earth Eater
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Heavy Slam
- Body Press
- Iron Defense

SUMMARY: I only tried the set above to be honest. Since this is a no-shed tail research, I think that would be the “standard” set. Good cores include Orthworm + Gastrodon, + Quagsire, + Screamtail. I also tried Tinkaton but it seems not that notable. It’s good match-ups are against DD Salamence, Iron Thorns, Gyarados, Non-SD Gallade, Tsareena trying to spin its rocks/spikes (Tera Ghost helps in spinblocking too), Wo-chien, Maushold, Toedscruel, Lokix, Slither Wing (need Tera Ghost for CC), and Floatzel. It can also switch in against Quagsire’s eq and wall it/use it to set-up Iron Defense. Bad match-ups are generally special attackers, Special variant of Salamence that has fire move like Heat wave, and it dislikes getting Knock-off’ed, and yeah as the replays will show, Armarouge.

Lokix

:Lokix:

SET USED:
Lokix @ Life Orb
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn
- Leech Life

SUMMARY: For the sets, I think Silver Powder can also be used. I am not a fan of Choice Band because it is tough getting choice-locked in First Impression and prevents from clicking U-turn the next turn. Adamant can also work as a nature. To be honest, I also tried substitute for some reason remembering my Dugtrio sub in RBY and GSC but Lokix seems not like that. Cores that I only tried with Lokix is Lokix + Bisharp and + Slither Wing. The rest are pivots just like Lokix to spam U-turn/Volt Switch which is a nice momentum generator. Thus, I had either Rotom-Mow and Talonflame. In terms of match-ups, I would say I found nothing new noteworthy. It really just fast pivots that deals more than 50% to some mons with U-turn and clean up with First Impression or sucker punch. Check out the replays where I used both Lokix and Orthworm in the same team.

NOTABLE REPLAYS:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1782541336-ti5p9r4cgk4b695v2b4ateda88kyl3epw

  • This is one of my first games for this research. I was still testing the waters and my instinct told me that steel resist bug so maybe I could switch against Venomoth. But nah, it did 67%. Then, I wishpass using Screamtail to bring its HP back to full. It switched against Gallade. I instantly clicked Tera Ghost and be immuned on Gallade’s Sacred Sword. It’s tough though since it was sent it with Shed Tail, it managed to set-up Speed and Attack. Psycho Cut at +2 dealt 80% to now a Ghost type Orthworm. Heavy Slam deals more than half of its HP though. My opp overthink so it clicked Sacred Sword again. Gallade fainted and my opp forfeited.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784168661-c6kh89q407t2w7nx9e1uczuv7xsn020pw

  • Lokix lead to pivot and U-turn did 40% to Armarouge. I realized Energy Ball Armarogue is a weakness of Orthworm + Gastrodon core. Orthworm did a lot here. It checked DD Salamence, Heavy slammed Polteageist, and body pressed Wo-chien. Orthworm and Lokix comboed Salamence here as U-turn dealt 50% to Salamence.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784279889-3wy26yoqg768lkt1k79ywomfkmzl8mepw

  • Still need to respect Salamence and thus, Screamtail checked it first and found out it has Heat Wave. So Orthworm checked Maushold here instead.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784281831-18jyftxrpv2fs0ibjechwstl49mkbv4pw

  • Orthworm checked Lokix and Toedscruel here. But then, I realized I need to start switching teams at this point so some of the subsequent replays will feature a different 4-mon partner for our research subjects.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784393994-5ug68ilupwm8kpbcn5p45hbo4nswf18pw

  • Not that noteworthy since this is another Orthworm checking Gallade and Lokix dealing massive damage. I won vs a 1200 so I included this still.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784397579-5vrl0vumb25n3w7kdgpp925we12eponpw

  • Against a rain team. Kilowattrel tried checking Lokix but got combo killed with First Impression + Sucker Punch so it did nothing here. Donphan Knock-Offed Orthworm’s leftovers but it is not enough since Floatzel can’t break Orthworm.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1784404700-t6z64eiq5cb4lgno845quzfzvulb924pw

  • Start of Lokix + Slither Wing team combo. Nothing much to note here aside from Tinkaton being a potential partner for Lokix.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1785117697-r9vk9twx1dtt0b4sw9vlbr85lzofnagpw

  • Here, Orthworm won against Klawf and Tsareena. Tera Ghost is clutch. Klawf used Knock off. Another thing that surprised me here is Lokix taking only 25% from Slowbro’s Shadow Ball. It isn’t that frail after all….Though tbh aside from those, Quagsire seems the highlight here. Instead of Gastrodon, I tried Quag.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1785121828-azuk6jypgrzfreya6936bnaxs4j2bmwpw

  • Orthworm sweep 4-0. It started with DD Iron Thorns. It’s Thunder Punch para’d the worm but it still managed to set-up and sweep. Tera Ghost come in clutch against Ditto to be immune from Body Press. Quag can’t do anything. And lastly, Gardevoir only did 81% with Shadow Ball while Heavy Slam plus rocks I guess KOed it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1785126365-6ljxb37jux3erzja2ngpaiathjbumhzpw

  • The game that made me reached 1200 elo. Orthworm walled DD Gyara this time. Not that much info too.

CONCLUSION: Orthworm no-shed tail might even be better than the shed tail set ngl. Iron Defense sets makes it not only a defensive powerhouse but also a possible wincon/late game sweeper. Orthworm shed tail will rely more on its teammates and it not having Regenerator unlike Cyclizar is also something to note when comparing the two. About Lokix, it is really outclassed by Slither Wing thus I put them on the same team anyways. Slither Wing can get itself locked while having some defensive utility like when it Tera into Steel. Lokix is way frailer with lower overall hp, def, and spdef stats. It also has lower attack, and should I say…even spatk though it doesn’t matter much. Lokix is at least faster so I guess the fast pivot idea will work.

OVERALL RATING:

Orthworm: (A-) An A minus rating because I think Orthworm, specifically with the Iron Defense set, has an impactful role in the metagame. As one of the replays showed, there were 4 mons that became helpless against it at the same team and led to the sweep. This could be argued to be just a B+ since it is still inconsistent. It needs Salamence to reveal its set first, have another mon to cover other physical attackers, etc.

Lokix: (B-) B minus rating because yeah it is viable so I put it above C but is just outclassed for the most part. If I could compare this to a familiar tier to me, I’d say that this (Lokix-Slither Wing comparison) is like the Fearow and Pidgeot in GSC NU. Not a perfect analogy but the idea to put them together in one team or just have the Lokix up by a useful stat (which is speed in Lokix’ case) is what I had in mind while researching this mon.

Respond to other researcher's findings and conclusion:

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that Lokix does better than Slither Wing. Don't bring up Salamence and Gyarados, because Lokix needs Tera Bug to OHKO those, and if you want to bring up tera, then I can just make the argument for a defensive tera like steel on Slither Wing, which also takes care of both of those. Or even better, just use another Pokemon with a defensive tera to handle those 2. Also, please don't bring up Noivern, for the love of god, if Noivern doesn't tera into a normal type, it's not a threat.

Aside from what I mentioned in the main body of this post, I think having a fast pivot with a hard-hitting STAB boosted U-turn would be its niche over Slither Wing. I agree with the statements above by Lavern.


That is another issue with Lokix, it has to use Choice Band, there is no other item it can use. Heavy-Duty-Boots and Protective Pads Lokix are absolutely pathetic in terms of damage, and even Silver Powder just isn't that strong. The issue with Silver Powder is, you bluff the Choice Band First Impression, but like, you're not even that good at punishing something that tries to set up, because unlike Silver Powder Slither Wing, you don't have a strong secondary STAB, or a coverage move coming off of high attack, to punish those Pokemon. So, after using Taunt Lokix, for roughly 15-20 games, I switched to Choice Band Lokix, which ran into another issue.

I think Silver Powder is fine with Lokix. I mainly used Life Orb but that drains Lokix HP and Silver Powder isn't that less of a power boost. It doesn't boost Sucker Punch which literally sucks but yeah. This is better than getting choice-locked imo. Overall though, this is a nice exploration of Lokix since you also explained and thought of other possible sets for Lokix.


There are also a lot of issues with Orthworm on this team, such as it's overlapping weaknesses and strengths with other Stall staples. If you're using Orthworm you're essentially forced to ditch Tinkaton since you're lacking an actual Wincon, which is an issue since Tinkaton puts a lot of pressure off of Blissey to deal with Hurricane Spam. Having multiple dedicated physical walls just leaves me with a lack of space in general, but ditching Alomomola, Talonflame or Quagsire is not an option since they all contribute toward individually countering other Top Tier threats and/or pivoting around dangerous mons you can't consistently cover and Orthworms utility pales in comparison to this. In the end I needed to compress Knock Off + a Wincon + a Volt absorber into one Team Slot which forced me to use the otherwise suboptimal Wo-Chien.

I actually didn't read this before doing my tests and just read this after I wrote the main body of this post. Now that I think about it, yeah Orthworm and Tinkaton are both Steel so its overlapping indeed. Although I'm not using stall though in the replay above where I used Tinkaton, I think the team I used is indeed flawed. I haven't met Talonflame in replays too and didn't realized that it was a problem until I got swept by a team with it coz my team couldn't do anything. My thinking is that Tinkaton will be my special blanket check anyways and maybe Quag or Gastrodon could handle the rest. Nice insights by the way. This is a nice take and route to try it in stall.


After playing a ton of games with this little fella, I have to admit that I'm impressed! Watching it sweep teams with IronPresser is funny, and it makes progress for the sweepers in my team such as Iron Jugulis and Tauros-Aqua. The metagame's pretty harsh for it, especially with all those Gengars and Talonflames running around. But at least now it's clear that maybe Orthworm isn't just stuck to Shed Tail shenanigans after all. Hopefully this funny worm will keep thriving.

Yeah Gengar is another threat that annoyed my Orthworm + Gastrodon + Screamtail. Orthworm can switch in against Sludge Bomb and get Gengar choice-locked but it depends on Gengar set and requires predict. Gengar has Energy Ball for Gastrodon and Shadow Ball STAB against Screamtail. I also liked how summary of Orthworm's weaknesses.


END of Diannie's research notes for Week 1
 
Last edited:
Okay so I did not intend on doing this particular research week, but in building i happened to stumble upon something not yet mentioned in this thread so far, and for the spiritual purpose of this project in mind, i think it's still worth mentioning it here even if the quality may not resemble those of the actual participants this time around.

I hadn't exactly used Lokix in this meta just yet and ended up with a structure to where it seemed like a good fit for the team and in giving its movepool some thought, i believe this tech may be a legitimate way to run this mon:

:sv/lokix:
Lokix
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- First Impression
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn
- Thief
So the main idea behind this is that Lokix is already a mon that tends to force switches and is very influential in building for just about any team, and considering that resists can be crucial for checking it, this tech becomes a means for disarming some of it's counterplay to make it's pivoting easier. Imagine taking lefties from a Tinkaton or Talonflame's boots, etc. In most cases you'll likely take an item that Lokix can utilize, but the scenarios for taking choice specs from something like Noivern or Kilowattrel does exist too as something to consider. Overall, i think this has a lot of potential in the meta and hope that more explore this too! Thanks for reading. :]
 
Alright so, I've personally been using Lokix a lot on my recent teams and have a lot of thoughts about it.



One of the biggest things to think of when decided to use Lokix is: "Why wouldn't you use Slither Wing instead?" It's arguably the better choice stat wise alongside general utility. Especially with wild charge to lure Talonflame and other mons makes it seem like the obvious choice. The difference between the two is when they are useful. Slither Wing is a wallbreaker that leads into your sweeper, while Lokix cleans a game at the end after you position it to be able to kill whatever mons there are left.

Bug/Dark is also a super unique typing that only Lokix currently has alongside an amazing ability in tinted lens which makes its STAB combo extremely difficult to team with. It also makes it a good check into polteageist and other potential ghost or psychic types that may not be able to kill it in one shot.

There are two sets in particular i've been using that I would like to talk about. Choice Band, and Swords Dance.

Lokix @ Choice Band
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- First Impression
- Throat Chop
- U-turn
- Leech Life
Starting with Choice Band, the more common of the two sets. This set is good for adding revenge killing power as despite how risky locking yourself into First Impression may be, it allows you to kill important threats such as Salamence, Lucario, and Polteageist. Leech Life is also an AMAZING move for Lokix to have since despite it being rocks weak, it can easily heal itself back up since it does so much damage to the pokemon it goes against, leaving the chip damage from hazards being manageable. Throat Chop is a very solid backup stab if you want to hit something such as Talonflame, but I don't see myself clicking this 90% of the time. Overall this is a great set for Lokix that gives solid power and easily can overpower a team late game with good setup.

Lokix @ Life Orb
Ability: Tinted Lens
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- First Impression
- Sucker Punch
- Leech Life
The next set I've used is Swords Dance. I personally used Life Orb for the big increase in power over all his moves but something such as Silver Powder or Boots can work. The part I like about this set is the double priority, so you still have the same perks of a very strong first impression coming from Lokix to revenge kill the mons said above, but also you can Swords Dance to make Lokix a very scary late game cleaner in the face of any type of team. Sucker Punch allows Lokix to still attack and kill mons faster than it while being able to use the Swords Dance boost. Leech Life is used for the same reason as CB. The unexpected part of having SD is if someone expects a first impression and uses protect, or switches out to sack a mon, you can get an SD and be in a position that is going to be very scary for your opponent to deal with.

Overall, I think people have underrated Lokix a good bit especially when comparing it against something like Slither Wing. Their uses are very different and both are great pokemon in the current UU meta. Below i'm going to post some replays of the position you can put yourself in when using Lokix against teams.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1788635331-h7467b7qk9699atjju6nz1h941bnhmkpw Lokix into late game when its checks have already fainted
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1782336708-vtwi5h1qkgs8tzr21c13iklb1zf9i3spw Another one of Lokix checks being weakened to the point of a sweep
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1782323255-8dxpj7tm1se8u83bbohjf8m9v4zoshkpw When you don't have Lokix checks
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1771962992-2i84ggpdzkx1ivv4dbz5v1ai2y7rw6wpw SD Lokix letting me break past the rest of his defenses
Thought I had more SD Lokix replays but I guess not

Also going to point out a bit about Orthworm but not to the detail of Lokix. I think its a good mon, great defenses, both hazards in spikes and rocks, and also has the potential of a wincon with iron defense against physical attackers. Though if body press is your only form of attacking it can easily get stopped in its tracks by something like talonflame or slowking. However a move i've quite enjoyed on it that hasn't been noted quite yet is Rock Blast on Orthworm. What otherwise would be a free switch for any common fire type now becomes a lot more risky. Talonflame is 4x weak to rock and if you get a lucky roll may outright kill it, and against something like Armarouge you keep lowering its defenses each hit from Rock Blast, dealing a good amount of damage. I think Orthworm best fits on balances and some bulky offenses and has a lot of utility in its role compression.

Either way thanks to whoever read this far and hope you give these mons another try in the future if you didn't like them before!
 

Estarossa

moo?
is a Site Content Manageris an official Team Rateris a Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Battle Simulator Moderator
C&C Leader
Yea sure that was always the intention before we create our archive forum to thin out current forum of inactive threads (and all the individual mon ones) Have pinned for now.
 
RESEARCH WEEK 1 POINTS DUMP:

+20 pomfpomfpluff - +10 (Highest Elo), +5 (Findings) +5 (Exemplary Effort)
+5 tomatosoup110 - +5 (Findings)
+10 Slip - +5 (Findings), +5 (Exemplary Effort)
+5 Lavern - +5 (Findings)
+15 lavarina - +5 (Findings) +5 (Exemplary Effort), +5 (Response to other researchers)
+15 DiannieRatson - +5 (Findings), +5 (Exemplary Effort), +5 (Response to other researchers)
+5 Crushy - +5 (Findings)

No user has leveled up a rank yet for the leaderboard.

-

WEEK 1 WRAP:

It seems Orthworm was an interesting addition to the SV UU meta as a defensive stop option. Its lack of recovery though usually made it find use only as a temporary option or as a great final mon if you manage to eliminate the foe's main Special threats. Iron Defense was the set of choice, usually coupled with Hazards, as its movepool is actually quite limited once you remove Shed Tail. Coil sets were also an option but seemed to be more on the gimmicky side. Overall, while it's no longer UU, if OU ever bans Shed Tail it's possible this mon could be a welcome addition yet again to the tier.

Lokix was overall disappointing to most researchers, as it seemed Slither Wing generally outclassed it in most regards. There were two notable sets that helped differentiate it from its slithering compadre - the SD set, and the Thief lure set. The SD set has tremendous power compared to Slither thanks to Tinted Lens Sucker Punch, and the Thief lure set can help it overcome its usual checks. Still, many will prefer to use Slither Wing as their primary First Impressionist.

-
-

Week 2
ALT CODE: SVUURW2(name)​

For Week 2, after much internal deliberation, we have selected Pawmot and Gyarados as the research subjects!

:sv/Pawmot:

Pawmot
Ability: any
-
-
-
-


Everyone is clamoring about the other Electric/Fighting mon to jump the tier recently, but these classic furry Hands were here first before a temporary rise to OU, and have been brought back down to see how it holds up here. Any set is fine, whether it's revival spam or pure offensive - have fun experimenting!

:sv/Gyarados:

Gyarados
Ability: any
- Taunt
-
-
-


Gyarados has been Taunting opponents for over a decade now - but can it do the same in SV UU? With the loss of key coverage, Gyara has more open slots to try other moves, and Taunt may help shut down common passive counterplay. Will it be enough to make a giant fish sized impact in SV UU? You are the researcher, so you tell me!

-

If you are unsure on how to write a report for research week, feel free to use this template as a base (NOTE: you DON'T have to use this template, it's only if you are unsure how to really get your report going):

Code:
INTRO: (write a little blurb here, w/e you want)

Orthworm

:Orthworm:

SETS USED:

Orthworm @ z
Ability: Earth Eater
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Orthworm shows it is the worm of the day")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Orthworm fails to be anything more than escargot")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)
-
:Lokix:

SETS USED:

Lokix @ z
Ability: x
EVs: x
x Nature
-
-
-
-

(Any other sets used, list those too)

SUMMARY: (include good cores, good matchups, bad matchups, etc.)

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
(link) - (add commentary, such as: "See here how Lokix ascends to the throne")
(link) - (add commentary, e.g. "Here Lokix has truly ran out of steam")
(more replays - put as many as are relevant!)

CONCLUSION: (final thoughts)

OVERALL RATING: (w/e you want, D through S is standard but you can use whatever scale you prefer)


In order to participate you must do the following:

Post here with a fresh RW alt (such as SVUURW2 Motters or SVUURW2 Gyarafan ) and the name(s) of the Pokemon you will be using.
Use at least one of the Pokemon being researched.
Post your experiences with the Pokemon you're using, participate in the discussion!
Be sure to follow the instructions in the OP - use your words and your replays to really hammer the point home!
The goal is to get points through the 3 main events - The winner of the main event will be the person who has the highest ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder with their RW alt at the time the challenge ends. Winners will also receive a permanent spot in this thread's Hall of Fame.
This week will end on February 13 at 11:59 PM GMT-5. Have fun everyone!!
 

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