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

[Mystras]

INTRO: I heard a lot of people say that Wo-Chien was not worth using or not good at the start of the gen, but it turns out we probably didn't give this mon its due justice back then given how often we're seeing it in tour usage recently. I thought I may as well give it a go and see how much work it can put in since the developers decided to try to make another Grass/Dark Type work in a slightly more defensive role.



SETS USED:

Wo-Chien @ Leftovers
Ability: Tablets of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Substitute / Ruination

I used a max defense spread too but decided that it wasn't worth it after like a couple games. Wo Chien's typing just doesn't allow for it to be a stable answer to the plentiful physical attackers since they can brute force their way through anyways, chief among them being mons like Lokix, Gallade, Pawmot, and yeah there's just too many. Not only that it comes off as a bit redundant when Terra Ghost helps deal with the majority of them in a one on one scenario and in general its very easy to slot in something like Talonflame to deal with them and trust me Talon is one of its best partners. Not living things like Gengar's Sludge Bomb or Armarouge's Armor Cannon from full is also rather irritating so I elected to keep this set the entirety of the run and Wo Chien punishes them sooo much harder than it would to the Fighting mons.

Ruination was my first choice since I thought that accelerating the rate at which wearing down opponents was better but after not really using it in a notable number of my games, I gave Substitute a shot and it worked out a lot better. Not having the opponents be able to touch you makes it a hell of a lot easier to take advantage on something like a Quagsire when they're caught using Recover.

Teammates


Fighting answers are a must even if they can't cover everything since you don't always want to use terra ghost on Wo-Chien.

Wo-Chien is THE Grass type you slap onto Fire-Water-Grass cores on bulkier teams simply because it's by far the fattest one available, which leads to it naturally fitting on more Balance and Stall oriented team structures.

I agree which is why I think Talonflame is a damn near must on Wo-Chien teams. The ability to fuck over Lokix and the other threats is too valuable to pass up. Also I was torn between Quagsire and Gastrodon for the water slot because SpDef Gastrodon makes Terra Ice Sandy Shocks less of a pain but having a nice answer to something like Pawmot and makes it nice at dealing with sweepers like Dance mence when it comes up on ladder.

I was not too big a fan of scream tail at first, namely because of how passive it was but that's probably more because I tried to use stealth rock to have Quagsire use spikes. After I tried it with encore I liked it more. It is the more reliable answer to Gallade in the tier so there's also that and it can stomach a hit from Iron Jugulis.


Biggest Threats


Iron Jugulis was probably my biggest hurdle before I started using substitute, sometimes it felt legitimately painful to play guessing games around the damn thing, but after I added substitute it became a lot better to deal with. Noivern has infiltrator so its still a massive threat but specs terra boomburst isnt doing jack in front of terra ghost, Draco Meteor does half Wo Chien's health but axes its damage afterwards and Hurricane is either hard to fit or prone to missing. Gallade and Armarogue are probably the biggest nuisances pre-terra so its very annoying if I wanted to terra something else.

Sandy Shocks also goes on the list of annoying things on occasion if they have additional hazards like spikes or toxic spikes. Volting around the battle field is annoying and Terra Ice is annoying.



Okay I won't talk about how long it took me to implement the team link correctly. This was the final result I got. I like Tatsugiri I think its pretty cool. It has pretty bad defensive utility but at least its very good offensively and has spinning potential, it doesn't get to do it too often but it is very offensively potent to make up for it, terra steel is very fun when it gets a good setting for it. Grafaiai is another mon that works as a check to gengar and has knock off for Tink and parting shot for Wo Chien to pivot into Quaggy on the switch without the toxic risk is bueno. Scream Tail vs Tinkaton was another dilemma I faced but I think either or is fine depends on what preference you have between the two or the threats you don't like.

NOTABLE REPLAYS:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1808982415-8f2y7mscl2a96l1rbc9f908261skpvzpw - Just a little display on how much value a low health Wo Chien can get. If I had Substitute this would've been an absolute stomping ground but surviving a crit sludge bomb from gengar after the poison and still knocking off the Tinkaton and Talonflame is still very nice. Gigaton Hammer is funny to do mind games with when you're on the other side.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1808988795-k7hcu7gwoweq26o9ip7bwm4marbjw53pw - Yeaaahhhh, I didn't know Gengar terra fairy was a thing and frankly speaking that was a royal fuck up on my end that came from greed. This shows how worth it is to think about when to terra because this really could have been avoided had I saved up the terra ghost on Wo Chien.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1809019366-7brr6fxmdzcxt24awzwb2ogfgmas9r6pw - So this is when I really felt like Gastrodon wasn't it for me at least at dealing with sweepers, at least in the way I was doing it before because at least one setup stopper is really really nice to deal with things like the Cetitan shown here.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1809703845-ft18akwrax7rdr5xmzb6l050tc4j425pw - See this is what I mean Gastrodon just wouldn't have been able to do the same. Granted the team did suck into Sandy Shocks after another few games so I swapped to Gastrodon and just admitted to relying on Grafaiai.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1809693930-r799mxif6x8nfd956whi2kro2r1ij89pw - This made me really appreciate Substitute a lot. Im still weak to Iron Jugulis but im no longer at the complete mercy of needing to swap around whenever it comes in even after I scouted the move and can take the chance even to leech seed it and put some pressure on it. I could probably use Tinkaton over scream tail, I kind of just wanted a wish passer at the time but Tinkaton is a very nice option


CONCLUSION: I think Wo Chien is very solid, it has problems like not being able to fit Tyranitar for Iron Jugulis but it is part of a really solid core to wear down enemies a lot. It can be rather painfully reliant on terra but it can dominate the mons that would otherwise nuke it so that helps.

OVERALL RATING: A-

 

[BigFatMantis]

RESEARCH WEEK 3 POINTS DUMP:

+25 pomfpomfpluff - +10 (Highest Elo), +5 (Findings) +5 (Exemplary Effort) +5 (Response to other researchers)
+10 HydreigonTheChild - +5 (Findings) +5 (Exemplary Effort)
+15 DiannieRatson - +5 (Findings), +5 (Exemplary Effort), +5 (Response to other researchers)
+15 lavarina - +5 (Findings) +5 (Exemplary Effort), +5 (Response to other researchers)

Congratulations to DiannieRatson and lavarina on officially joining the ★ The SV UU Research Academy ★ as Research Assistants! (40+ cumulative points). We hope more of you can eventually work your way up the academy hierarchy!

-

WEEK 3 WRAP:

Wo-Chien seemed to be a very solid defensive option that seamlessly fit onto many cores. Almost all ran Knock Off and Leech Seed as a way to debilitate foes and stay healthy, but any other options such as Foul Play, Body Press, Giga Drain, and Ruination were also popular. Overall it got very high ratings and may close to a UU staple for some time to come.

Oricorio, both pompom and sensu, were also popular as setup sweepers with reliable recovery and considerable bulk. While pompom is generally considered better, the disparity does not seem to be as great as once thought. Additionally, while both work great on offensive oriented teams, their ability to tank hits with bulky spreads while roosting and defogging allows for you to place them on other team structures as well. Look for both to remain threats as UU enters its third meta iteration this month.

-
-

Week 4
ALT CODE: SVUURW4(name)​

For Week 4, after much internal deliberation, we have selected Scizor w/ Traiblaze and Weavile as the research subjects!

Scizor - Trailblaze set

Scizor
Ability: any
- Trailblaze
-
-
-

Scizor has finally dropped to UU, but with many key differences from last gen. No Roost and no Knock Off have significantly changed the strategy, but can it still remain a formidable force? It has gained Trailblaze as a way to both set itself up and also hit the pesky Quagsire - will that be a difference maker here? Or is Trailblaze just a meme set? Let's find out!

Weavile - any set

Weavile
Ability: any
-
-
-
-

Weavile has really gotten overlooked so far this gen in UU, but with so much speed and so much power it's a bit surprising why it's not used more. Is it just we haven't unlocked its true strength? Maybe haven't recognized its real utility? Perhaps it has one more push left to make us realize what we are missing. Or perhaps not, but we want to find out!

-

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):

template

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 SVUURW4 Mantis or SVUURW4 Popgoesthe ) 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 March 12 at 11:59 PM GMT-5. Have fun everyone!!

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Confirming as SVUURW4 VM

Edit: Forgot to mention it but I'm taking Scizor.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

SVUURW4 bacon yum

reserving both

 

[DraconicLepus]

Hello everyone! Sorry about last week but this Friday we're having a live research tour in the UU showdown room!

Every item has its uses, but some of the most widely used are the choice items. They can drastically change an outcome of a game based on its use but we wanted to focus on one. What would happen if the choice scarf was banned? Speed tiers are so important especially when it comes to revenge killing various threats, So with everything at its base speed, and not having to keep in mind what could have a scarf or not, would much change?

Come find out with us on Friday, March 10th at 2 pm GMT -5 (EST) live in the Pokemon Showdown UU room! We hope to see you all there!

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Hello everyone! Sorry about last week but this Friday we're having a live research tour in the UU showdown room!

Every item has its uses, but some of the most widely used are the choice items. They can drastically change an outcome of a game based on its use but we wanted to focus on one. What would happen if the choice scarf was banned? Speed tiers are so important especially when it comes to revenge killing various threats, So with everything at its base speed, and not having to keep in mind what could have a scarf or not, would much change?

Come find out with us on Friday, March 10th at 2 pm live in the Pokemon Showdown UU room! We hope to see you all there!

what 2pm? 2pm gmt-5?

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

With some old UU royalty dropping down it makes sense that said royal would be the main candidate for this weeks research, given that Scizor has previously been seen as the King of UU during the past two generations. Despite this I personally never actually used Scizor during the SS and SM days because I basically didn't play UU and when I did I exclusively used stall. Scizor has however lost a lot of good tools, mainly Roost + Knock Off as utility moves aswell as Bug Bite for a strong and reliable STAB move. It has however also gotten a couple of interesting new tols such as Trailblaze and Terastilization. So how good is Scizor in the current metagame despite these nerfs and will it remain a top tier threat it used to be when the metagame settles? Before I answer that question I want to quickly go over the set I used aswell as the teambuilding process.


The Set


(Scizor) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
Yeah so I only used one set this week and piloted it on one team. This is a very unorthodox Scizor set but the idea is basically for it to pivot around and threaten to revenge kill stuff during the early-midgame and then break/clean with SD later. Life Orb is chosen over HDB here moreso because OHKOing Quagsire with Trailblaze is funny, but the higher damage rolls against important HO mons is also very important.

I piloted Scizor on this Balance team alongside one of my favourite balance cores in the current metagame. Wo-Chien + Talonflame + Alomomola covers a large portion of the metagame in three slots while also having Defog + Knock Off covered in order to give the rest of the slots more flexibility. I also wanted to test out how good Scizor was alongside Wish support, hence why I chose Alomomola specifically as my bulky water. I paired this core with a obligatory Gengar check, that being Tinkaton who also serves as the teams main hazard setter. To round the team off I also wanted something with Volt-Switch so that I could have a Volt-Turn core on my team and since Kilowattrel both has Volt Absorb and is the 2nd fastest mon in the tier I added it in to serve as important defensive utility + speed control.


Pros

Now that the prep work is done, let's get into what Scizor actually accomplished throughout the playtesting and how it performed against the metagame at large. Scizor has been most commonly associated with two specific moves ever since the DPP days, those being Bullet Punch and U-Turn. It manages to distinguish itself from the other two premier U-Turn spammers in the tier (Slither Wing and Lokix) by both having the best overall defensive utility of the three because of it's great defensive typing and overall solid mixed bulk, aswell as being the only one with the overall best priority move. These tools aren't only good on paper either, but actually give it good early-midgame utility thanks to it's ability to come in against a lot of moves. The strong but reliable priority meanwhile makes it a good lategame cleaner, which can be seen in this replay where Scizor comes in at pristine condition lategame to KO three mons before going down.

The midgame utility is especially noteworthy since strong priority is very good for beating frailer setup sweepers thatcan maybe come in once or twice per game. Mons like Lycanroc and Gallade typically got their sweeping attempts halted completely by Scizor either comingin off of a hard read or as a revenge killer, which makes it a lot harder for typical Balance breakers to do their job consistently. The Lycanroc matchup is especially noteworthy since it can otherwise be quite troublesome for fatter teams to break, which this replay showcases. Here Scizor uses Lycanroc as fodder for a breaking attempt where it manages to take Sandy Shocks down to 4% by using Trailblaze and then forces another KO afterward.

On the topic of Trailblaze specifically though, it actually came up a lot more often than I thought it would initially. On paper it just seems like a matchup fish for Quagsire, which was why I initially chose to use it since Quagsire can be very annoying for balance teams to switch into since Toxic + Spikes + EQ can make decent progress for free. In this replay but hitting bulky ground types for super effective damage is actually just genuinely good on an SD mon. The speed boost is less noteworthy since the EV spread showcased above is super slow and because you already clean house with Bullet Punch anyway, but it can occasionally be nice against slower mons. It's also a nice move to click into Tauros-Water without it being as dead of a move as Aerial Ace, which pretty much only hits the Tauros Formes.


Cons

Scizor is of course not flawless in most matches, particularly because of how a lot of metagame trends aren't favoring it very much at the moment. Talonflame usage has been through the roof for a bit now and it's by far the most consistent answer to non Tera Fire variants since it both checks it defensively and punishes U-Turn attempts. This can be seen in this replay where Scizor is facing a team that consists of both Talonflame and Salamance and gets immediately burnt by Flame Body on the 2nd turn. It manages to still do some things over the course of the game but generally has to take a backseat and let the rest of the team put in the work necessary. Outside of Talonflame we of course have the afforementioned Mence which also has been trending a lot as of late, mainly because of how common Scizor has been. That same sentiment has been true for both Tauros variants except they were blowing up before Scizor dropped. There is of course some counterplay that can be teched on but generally these mons are both common and check Scizor well.

It's also just extremely slow, like to the point where we have walls that are faster than it if it's uninvested. Bullet Punch obviously offsets this to a certain extent, but it makes U-Turn a lot less spammable unless you're going for hard reads and this is further exasperated by the fact that most of the metagame can easily 2hko it from full, which when piled on by Life Orb Recoil and hazard chip can make it harder to get an SD off. This also makes getting your potential SD sweep halted by opposing priority like Lycanroc's Accelrock, Lokix's First Impression and the many Sucker Punches we have an issue. The bad speed can be nice for dodging stuff like Tinkaton and Scream Tail Encore, but generally it kinda sucks.


Conclusion

So in conclusion Scizor generally fits the bill when it comes to being a consistent player, since it's useful at multiple points in a game because of how it can come in multiple times throughout a battle and threaten a wide variety of mons. Despite it's lack of flexibility on paper it's almost never a completely certain force, since it still has flexibility within it's sets thanks to the many item and moveslot combination it has access to. It's obviously not flawless since a lot of the mons that check/counter it are decently popular within the current metagame, but these issues can be solved with proper luring and/or chip damage. Personally I'd rate Scizor as an A rank mon within the current metagame, with prospects to reach even higher once the metagame settles.

Also here are some miscellaneous replays that don't necessarily showcase anything interesting.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815611329
Nothing interesting really happened here gameplay wise, but it was kinda funny that the one time I chose not to use Life Orb because "the OHKO on Quagsire is too memey" I instantly eat shit because of it.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815284895-tj5x7wi4t23ybrja24fc110iejhuhv3pw
Despite being a researcher vs researcher battle, neither sides research mon(s) actually accomplished much ironically enough.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815336837-iu4de0cto2o5pm1317p94rvu5dgepq6pw
And this is just a game where Scizor goes ham against a team that doesn't really have anything to check it well at all. I guess it showcases how good Scizor + Wish Support can be?

Edit: Adding in some commentary.

Trailblaze Scizor, based on the current metagame, should be the standard. The ev spreads and item choice can still be optimal but generally, Scizor has to use Trailblaze, Bullet Punch, U-turn, and Close Combat as its moveset. Definitely Trailblaze > Aerial Ace since Aerial Ace is more niche to use and the lack of it is insignificant than not having Trailblaze.

This is definitely a statement I can get behind given that the niche Trailblaze fulfills are pretty unique to it specifically. Granted I think that this mainly applies to SD variants since CB has a few other moves it can run in the last slot (mainly Thief, Aerial Ace and Tera Blast), but said SD variants really enjoy the coverage Trailblaze gives. You get a way to hit stuff like Quagsire and Tauros in one slot, which is useful mainly for the former since you're an SDer that can both lure and beat Quagsire without a big opportunity cost associated to it, which differenciates it from the likes of Iron Thorns and Mimikyu.

 

[DraconicLepus]

Hello everyone! We had our Live Research Tour and I'm going to go over the results of it. Congrats to pomfpomfpluff for winning this week!

So what were the results of Choice Scarf being banned? It was quite interesting for me, in previous generations the impact of Choice Scarf was immense, being one of the biggest form of speed control and revenge killing in the tier, but in this generation we have not only large amounts of at base speedy mons like Talonflame, Kilowattrel, or Weavile that can make up some of whats needed in there, the biggest difference is our priority users. First Impression users like Slither Wing and Lokix, Bullet Punch from Scizor, Sucker Punch from Bisharp, Mimikyu's Shadow Sneak, I think the picture is pretty clear. The biggest one is especially Slither Wing, one of the most prevalent forces in the tier.

Compared to previous gens there are also a lack of pokemon that can sufficiently use scarf, the biggest one being Gengar (which uses a multitude of other sets). While there are other options Scarf in the current meta is one of the harder to fit speed control options since we have so many other good options.

Besides that there was also an influx of slower, and fatter teams on balances or stall, which can be seen in the final game replay. If you can outlast the opponent through your defensive core you wouldn't need a scarfer to revenge kill something, though its still nice to have priority or some form of doing so.

The final game of the tournaments replay will be below!

Replay

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819167585

Thank you to everyone who participated and see you all next week!

 

[lavarina]

this is embarassing i forgot to confirm. um. SVUURW4 lavarina
i'm researching both scizor and weavile!

 

[DiannieRatson]

SVUURW4 Diannie

Trailblaze Scizor and Weavile

I might not be able to finish writing 'til deadline and might be a day late so I hope it's fine. I have the replays already though xd. Edit: Only 1 hr late

INTRO: Another pair of interesting research subjects in Scizor + Weavile made this research week fun again. I used Scizor before as Espathra check but now that Espathra is OU and Scizor is back down to UU, Scizor can now be used not only as a general wallbreaker/sweeper but also a nice pivot. On the other hand, Weavile is currently ranked as B- mon in the official SV UU VR. It seems Weavile is underrated because it has an excellent speed so I guess it was up to me to find out why it was ranked like that in this week. Scizor is currently ranked as an A- mon btw and in this research, it will be specifically with sets with the move Trailblaze. It is a grass type move that increases Speed while having base 50 power that can be boosted by Scizor’s Technician Ability. Is Trailblaze a standard move for Scizor? I tried to answer that question too in this research.

I’ll begin with my findings about Trailblaze Scizor first.

Trailblaze Scizor


SETS USED:

Scizor @ Assault Vest
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Close Combat

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Close Combat

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Close Combat

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Aerial Ace

SUMMARY: As proven by the multiple replays below, Trailblaze will be rarely clicked but it is necessary in certain situations. Bullet Punch and U-turn are what really Scizor would usually click every game. I thought there would be a good combo of Trailblaze plus Sword Dance to sweep late game but it is tough because if I used Life orb, Scizor tends to lose HP and take damage while it is clicking those two moves. Trailblaze improves Scizor’s match-up though against the likes of Quagsire, Gastrodon, Hippowdon, Donphan, Slowking, and to some extent, Alomomola. Scizor can also click Trailblaze vs Lycanroc especially if it won’t be choice-locked. I haven’t explored much the Gallade match-up though. Tough match-ups are against Talonflame and Rotom-Heat along with Salamence. In theory, Trailblaze over Aerial Ace weakens its match-up vs Tauros-Paldea variants although Will-o-wisp should scare Scizor out in the first place instead of clicking Aerial Ace vs Tauros-Fire.

Weavile


SETS USED:

Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Weavile @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Tera Blast

SUMMARY: In this research week, I always used Weavile along with Scizor. Weavile is more of a revenge killer especially when Scizor’s bullet punch isn’t gonna KO opp because it has a tough time getting in the field. I paired it with Slowking so that Chilly Reception slow pivot can safely get it in the field and boost its physical defense. I also tried the AV set so it also has boosted Special defense. It also has a bad match-up versus Talonflame but can 1v1 Rotom-Heat with the AV set I used due to boosted special defense plus Tera Ground plus Overheat lowers Rotom-heat’s sp.atk but this scenario is also good endgame. It is also weak to rocks but I did not try Heavy-Duty Boots because most use Band Weavile in the metagame anyways and didn’t bothered much by the hazards but of course I paired Weavile with spinners like Donphan, Tatsugiri, and Tsareena.

NOTABLE REPLAYS:

I chose 35 27 replays as usual with some short commentary on each.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815284895-tj5x7wi4t23ybrja24fc110iejhuhv3pw

• Researcher’s battle for our 1st ever game this research week. Me vs pomfpomfpluff. I got stalled by Alomomola. I calc’d Trailblaze Choice Band vs. Alomomola but it only 3hkos around 43% so its tough breaking it.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815290982-bxuk76t2kid1yqz0mneem00kgkya0o5pw

• Burned Scizor still doing things xd. Weavile just KOed Brute Bonnet and then did nothing again.

Weavile survived gyara edge

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815372431-ymqpyf0oqne8dfkgv481oosbwjnhnoxpw

• Showcased the Snow helping Weavile ig.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815390510-xx49upkrvfc9ku1h0gykucp5y9t7y7mpw

• Negative constraint makes this noteworthy. I have yet to click Trailblaze but Scizor does it job already.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815394604-fbrrp5k8csieqtdzxo20syvcrpwp6shpw

• Priority combo of Scizor’s bullet punch and Weavile’s ice shard spoils Hawlucha set-up

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815396015-smauvpeitbr6tfjp9wjkbuqfq0yuwxzpw

• Negative constraint. Approx 7 games in, still haven’t click Trailblaze.

Vs sun

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815824552-7wc35mk0iyfgwch7m5mea5b94laxdfdpw

• Just Scizor action. No Trailblaze.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815829797-o9jq6p2z9wiuqtlb28igh4mkms2fy5apw

• Weavile’s Ice Shard pick-off’d Talonflame

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815942602-sj94olle6kgkb74gcuzqiye26e8t7xypw

• 10 games in, no Trailblaze.

Weavile Sweep

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815945728-7q26u0zabr4365nuftu7npsw5q53gispw

• Weavile sweep that the weakened Talonflame couldnt stop.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815951411-zqstp49s1crp38mwtty2z0mxxzpy8olpw

• Scizor action no Trailblaze.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1815954010-o7xofgew7yx1x4j9ixvs3p1i4qsduu3pw

• Believe it or not, it took 18 games before I finally clicked Trailblaze. I guess lower ladder player does not use ground types.

Life orb

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1816201496-o28ii6kq1pys5f4fx4tlezgfjerootppw

• Trailblaze doing 37% vs Hippowdon.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817036359-jb2y76ofhv330s19xxk62a32ylcmralpw

• Weavile’s Icicle Crash dealing 73% damage to Gastrodon...

I didnt know naclstack

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817443205-l1cmp5bc86k6c5oeg03pdjyphcpwxp9pw

• It was nice getting Knock off’d to not get locked in Trailblaze but without Choice Band, it was close 1v1ing Donphan.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817458925-02bacip5qqd8h0n6245ob5ayc19fgrjpw

• Rare time that I click Low Kick. Weavile vs Bisharp.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817464246-zplj30d9suzi1bxy4fwlrjc4t4e4ho2pw

• Another Low kick vs Coalossal

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817468962-z741uw7s9ievpk5848op70fmavhb50tpw

• Life orb Weavile failed.

Tera Ground

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1818308944-mqz3ny8a81j6zldh2fqk7efn6wbk2enpw

• Turn 23. Opp might have been surprised with Tera Blast Ground from Weavile that clutched the game vs opposing annoying Tinkaton.

Cool AV sets

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1818314100-hiwyetp5tabxe4d6uuanvrn05yml5qopw

• Trailblaze vs Sandy Shocks. AV seems helping to boost their spdef and improved such 1v1 match-ups.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1818320404-nub6zyw5mtp8idgvvcaka4hkvzb2cfapw

• AV Trailblaze doing 50% to Slowking. I guess Scizor isn’t required to just use either Band or Orb that much then.

Vs 1400

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1818325995-e1qdhlpwfmqdn3uvj9zf6ee9ojf9n10pw

• Rotom-heat made this difficult for both Scizor and Weavile which are both weak to fire

Vs 1300

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819084029-mnx427pun23qp89bywqk2a27ef0y30wpw

• I got out-offensed here.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819094120-d08gjxzviusjdv6webkmq1wv5t2bboipw

• Rotom-heat counters the team I used I guess.

The endgame that made me 1200 worthy

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819131394-tfreo7brl0we0mflu30r8qyrfouc3y7pw

• Scizor and Weavile did their job to reach the endgame where Slowking Tera Fairy clutched the win.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819141457-1bm1lau90iusjtdd2y8rxyvj8a7n65bpw

• Ladder rematch xd. Different line this time since Slowking fainted too early. This time though, Tera Blast Ground is clutch again vs Bisharp.

Choked with bad weavile play

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819144598-hq0krnxic919w2qrkdzd334bwjn6o2apw

• My Weavile got burned t35. Could have still won that.

CONCLUSION:

Trailblaze Scizor, based on the current metagame, should be the standard. The ev spreads and item choice can still be optimal but generally, Scizor has to use Trailblaze, Bullet Punch, U-turn, and Close Combat as its moveset. Definitely Trailblaze > Aerial Ace since Aerial Ace is more niche to use and the lack of it is insignificant than not having Trailblaze.

As for Weavile, it definitely is underrated with the current VR only reflecting it as B- tier since even without Band or Orb, it definitely deals a relatively strong damage with its base 120 atk stat plus STAB and Night Slash has high critical hit ratio which is a good midground move to click. Base 125 speed makes it just 1 pt away to have the same speed as Talonflame. Talonflame is arguably the one that hinders its jump to A tier.

OVERALL RATING:

Trailblaze Scizor: (A-) Currently, Scizor is also ranked as A- in the official UU VR. I think that it is for Scizor’s capabilities in general although I wouldn’t say that Trailblaze Scizor would be ranked differently than a set with no Trailblaze. Slither Wing still outranks it imo which is an A tier rn. Bullet Punch STAB technician boosted is nice and it can be clicked as a priority move even as not as first move like First Impression but Slither Wing is also up a bit in terms of defensive utility.


Weavile: (B+) I would only give it B+ which is the same rank tier as where the likes of Bisharp and Gallade are in the rankings currently. The difference is that Weavile is the fastest among the three, Gallade has natural spdef bulk and Justified ability, and Bisharp has Defiant that discourages Intimidate users in stopping it. Yup, I am taking Weavile over another mon that has a Dark typing in Lokix that was concluded in the previous research weeks that more needed the boost from Band or Orb in which is not the case with Weavile and again, Weavile is faster and has a priority move in Ice Shard too.

It's also just extremely slow, like to the point where we have walls that are faster than it if it's uninvested. Bullet Punch obviously offsets this to a certain extent, but it makes U-Turn a lot less spammable unless you're going for hard reads and this is further exasperated by the fact that most of the metagame can easily 2hko it from full, which when piled on by Life Orb Recoil and hazard ship can make it harder to get an SD off. This also makes getting your potential SD sweep halted by opposing priority like Lycanroc's Accelrock, Lokix's First Impression and the many Sucker Punches we have an issue. The bad speed can be nice for dodging stuff like Tinkaton and Scream Tail Encore, but generally it kinda sucks.

I would like to add-on this point made by pomfpomfpluff. This is also the problem I encountered not only with Life Orb set but with other sets too because Scizor will also get chipped off by hazards when looking at opportunity to pivot in the spinner/defogger. Scizor being able to come in or be somehow useful defensively will be significantly detrimental to it if those EVs which are normally for HP is placed to its Speed. I used multiple ev spread and it seems the most optimal is really the ones that are in the 240-252 ev range to HP. It was also demonstrated in the replays above when I used the Life Orb set that Scizor normally was only be able to take 1 hit and then got KOed because I put as much as 60 ev to speed.

Looking forward to other researcher’s findings!

END of Diannie’s research notes Week 4

 

[lavarina]

if you saw me post, no you didnt.

It's a little funny how one has experienced going up and down OU a bunch of times while the other has finally dropped from its OU standing. Let's see how they're doing in UU!

Scizor
​

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Close Combat

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trailblaze
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Close Combat

I mostly used Choice Band for both Scizor and Weavile, but either way for Scizor, Trailblaze is such a good addition for it. Though it sucks to have lost Roost, being able to hit Ground or Water types, such as Quagsire, Hippowdon and Gastrodon, are already huge merits since both are known to be annoying walls with recovery. . Bullet Punch is obviously a must have for it, being able to revenge kill and clean weakened teams. It's very hard to stop when things go in its favor due to how strong it is with Choice Band or Swords Dance. You'd have to be wary for it to not setup or get free chip with U-Turn.

Here is a replay of Scizor cleaning up lategame. An unprepared team will have a hard time dealing with Scizor if it gets even a small chance to strike.

Weavile ​

Weavile @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Tera Blast
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Weavile @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Night Slash
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance

What to say about Weavile that none have said yet. It's fast, strong, and lost Knock Off and Triple Axel. Triple Axel's a low blow, but losing Knock Off is a big yikes to the point that it doesn't really feel worth it to run a Dark move on it. With how the meta is, I decided to run Tera Blast Fire to deal with threats such as Talonflame, Slither Wing and Lokix. Avoiding burns is also a blessing. An example is here, where Weavile managed to survive a Bullet Punch from Scizor thanks to Tera Fire and OHKOS it in return.

Either way, it's a speedy strong attacker with reliable priority in Ice Shard. Here showcases how strong it can be against foes that are weakened/don't resist its moves. Note that this is not Choice Band but rather SD set, I just never had the chance to actually use SD.

Since in my opinion, both Scizor and Weavile are quite similar in terms of weaknesses, I'll group them below here.

1. This Asshole and walls that resist their attacks
Yeah. Walls that are able to take their attacks like a champ and heal them off are so annoying to them, especially with how frail they are. Talonflame deserves to be the number one Pokemon in this list, having both Flame Body, Roost, and literally a super effective type against both of them. Any Scizor or Weavile teams that have no Talonflame answers need one right now.

2. Frailty
Weavile definitely suffers this a lot, as priority Mach Punch, Bullet Punch or First Impression absolutely shreds it down to pieces. Scizor can take a hit as long as its not too damaged, but Weavile literally has to be careful as to not just Die. Yes Weavile is fast but if it doesn't KO the threat before it goes down, it was basically just for chip damage. Speaking of chip damage, hazards are everywhere. Unless you run boots on both of them, you're going to go through one hell of a time if you don't have a way to remove those hazards soon.

for Scizor

this is further exasperated by the fact that most of the metagame can easily 2hko it from full, which when piled on by Life Orb Recoil and hazard ship can make it harder to get an SD off.

This is also the problem I encountered not only with Life Orb set but with other sets too because Scizor will also get chipped off by hazards when looking at opportunity to pivot in the spinner/defogger.

3. Intimidate users
Ironically, Scizor can deal with Tauros-Aqua with Trailblaze while Weavile with its Ice moves. Either way, it's annoying to get your attack lowered mainly because most if not all Intimidate users have a super effective move against these two.

Conclusion
Scizor and Weavile are wonderful physical sweepers and revenge killers. Even if Talonflame lurks in every corner, they'll continue to wreck teams that are unprepared for them. Though this meta isn't kind, hopefully they'll fit right in.​

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Weavile

​

SD weavile set

Weavile @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Night Slash
- Tera Blast
- Swords Dance

With SD weavile you can really pressure a lot of teams, can pressure a lot of switchins and with tera blast ground it can lure in pokemon such as tinkaton, bisharp, magnezone, tauros-fire, etc. It can easily get out of control especially with tinkaton being the teams usual steel. and if not it can easily help scizor clean late game with CB bullet punch or love future sight support in order to wear down the checks. THis set hates talonflame more than anything, while icicle crash damage is nice its never enough and u-turn damage sucks, so is scizor...

Pros of weavile:

- Fast, at least by uu standards, while this set doesnt run priority its still outspeeding a lot of pokemon in the tier, pokemon such as noivern, maushold, salazzle, grafaiai, +1 dd tar, etc.
- Stabs are pretty hard to resist, the only mon to resist is tinkaton, and with tera ground we can easily lure it in! FUN!
- IMmunity to encore meaning grafaiai doesnt shut down or annoy it

Cons:

- Stupidly frail, ur basically playing 5v6 till it can switch in
- Very weak to talon, night slash makes contact, it can be wisped, and u-turned on.
- Not very strong without boosts, it really needs the power to do smth

Replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817091663-7pt2v4hyeiu13awoscs797s38s3idz1pw (weavile easily swept this team at +2, esp after it nuked wo chien with +2 icicle crash
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817099028-rw21qmciwaltimkdy6e6nd5m5h8wsilpw (showed how good tera ground is by being able to lure in tinkaton and nuke it out of oblivion)

Scizor

​

CB scizor set

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Trailblaze
- U-turn
- Close Combat

This set is the classic scizor a lot of people know for, aka BP BP BP BP. Sooo... yeah this set capitalizes on it... but this set uses trailblaze for luring quag. Why? Well quag is annoying asf esp since it just takes 40 and recovers it off, also it helps weavile and helps it just nuke it and be done with it Scizor is also outspeeding neutral wo chien so its helpful to not get owned by knock off

Pros of this scizor set:

- Is a very anti-offense mon, with bullet punch and strong u-turns its able to force a lot of progress against offense, if you are in vs smth such as a specs noivern in, and they ofc dont want to lose it then you can just u-turn, chunk smth in, bring in the appropriate answer and continue to wear them down
- Very good defensive typing and good bulk which allows it to take hits and be a good pivot for the team even tho it lacks recovery, it is able to take on pokemon such as noivern, maushold, slowking, tsareena, brute bonnet, etc


Cons of scizor!

- No recovery means its punished a lot for guessing wrong, hazards + chip damage from stuff like helmet, and weak hits

Replays of scizor:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1817099028-rw21qmciwaltimkdy6e6nd5m5h8wsilpw (litterally it came in, clicked BP a bunch of times, and headed out)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1819130503-6p6qfzmvh4o82nboe9v9va4lub1jd0lpw (trailblaze putting in work)

CONCLUSION..!

Scizor is an amazing progress maker, tho you have to be very good with it as mispredicting sucks and puts you on the back foot aka racking up chip damage on scizor or throwing it at stuff. Scizor is not as bulky unlike in gen 8 since it lacks roost and this is a CB set, with future port it can really make things hell for the opponent.

Weavile is a good SD user, while I didnt get the most amount of replays it did put in work, esp when u can lure in its counterplay such as tinkaton, ttar, etc, and also when ur able to weaken its counterplay. THo it sucks not having the power of CB, the endgame cleaning power is nuts.

 

[DraconicLepus]

RESEARCH WEEK 4 POINTS DUMP:

+30 Points pomfpomfpluff - Highest Elo (10), Friday Research Tour (5), Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+15 Points DiannieRatson - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+15 Points lavarina - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+10 Points HydreigonTheChild - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5)

Congratulations to pomfpomfpluff for rising the ranks in ★ The SV UU Research Academy ★ as Adjunct Faculty! (75+ cumulative points). We hope to see more participants join academy hierchy!

WEEK 4 WRAP:

Trailblaze Scizor overall got a very good reception. It has its two main sets currently in Life Orb Swords Dance and Choice Band. Trailblaze especially was seen as a meta definer more than other options due to the prevalence of Gastrodon Quagsire, and Hippowdon. It can make lots of progress with good predictions due to having both Trailblaze and Close Combat as great forms of coverage. However it still has its downsides. It struggles to get past popular pokemon such as Talonflame and Salamence, which both can cripple it through their abilities and recovery. Its loss in Roost and Knock Off don't make it nearly as dominant as previous generations but its still a solid option with its new moves as well.

Weavile like Scizor also lost a couple of key moves from previous generations in Knock Off and Triple Axel. Its main set used was Choice Band, but other options like SD boots and also LO AoA were tried. It's speed made it an amazing cleaner/revenge killer at the end of a game. Its speed and strong typing made it very beneficial in the current meta, though without the boost from a Choice Band or Swords Dance, it could be weaker than wanted. It's frailty and the amount of viable fighting types in the meta definitely are a downside as well. With how the current meta is Weavile seems like it'll remain an underrated threat

Week 5
ALT CODE: SVUURW5(name)
​

For Week 5, we have selected our research subjects to be Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet and Naclstack!

Brute Bonnet - Loaded Dice

Brute Bonnet
Ability: Protosynthesis
- Bullet Seed
-
-
-

Brute Bonnet is an interesting Pokemon that rised to B- in UU Viability Rankings due to its recent successes in UUPL. So we wanted to see and test the set that has been popularized and if Brute Bonnet can set itself apart from its competition. With competition from other dark types like Tyranitar and Wo-Chien which shares its Grass/Dark typing, can Brute Bonnet set itself apart with its tools? That's what we plan to find out!

Naclstack - any set

Naclstack
Ability: any
-
-
-
-

Naclstack is a different choice than usual but one we think is worth researching. Naclstack has pretty decent bulk especially when boosted by eviolite, but the real interesting part about it comes from its tools. It's ability Purifying Salt makes it a very reliable Gengar check into its ghosts moves, and it cannot be worn down by statuses because of it as well. Paired with reliable recovery and its signature move Salt Cure, it can make a lot of progress through chip and being hard to kill due to its bulk. Do those positives make it worth a choice compared to other defensive choices?

-

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):

template

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

: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 SVUURW5 Mantis or SVUURW5 Popgoesthe ) 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 March 28 at 11:59 PM GMT-5. Have fun everyone!!

 

[lavarina]

in as SVUURW5 lavarina
i'll try to research both ^^

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

SVUURW5 drei

ill try for both

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Confirming as SVUURW5 VM

Going for Naclstack

 

[Rawbi]

SVUURW5 blue cap

gimme da mush

EDIT: dropping out, couldn't make a team I liked and ran out of time :I

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Research Academy - Naclstack



​

Introduction

Naclstack is a pretty interesting mon that perfectly suites my personal playstyle, which is why I chose it over the stupid mushroom. It's place on Stall and SemiStall builds in particular has always interested me because at first glance it's not entirely obvious what it exactly accomplishes over other fat staples that fill a similar role to it, which is exactly what makes it such an interesting subject to research. But before that let's go over the set and what team I ended up using it on.


The Set

(these new sprites are cute as fuck)
Minecraft Dog (Naclstack) @ Eviolite
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Recover

I used Naclstack on this SemiStall team

The teambuilding process is quite simple; in my previous Naclstack builds I've noticed just how weak it is to Hazard Stacking specifically, so I wanted to try and eliminate that by slapping on Hippowdon as both a backup all around sponge and also to boost Naclstacks Spdef so that it can more easily take on mons like Iron Jugulis. I then paired it with my favourite Fire-Water-Grass core and slapped on a Ditto in the final slot because I am sick and tired of using Quagsire and Grafaiai as my setup stoppers.

The main goal behind this set is to force salt on your opponent as often and as consistently as possible, hence why the Stealth Rock set was chosen over the Iron Defence + Body Press version despite the fact that I have another potential Stealth Rock user on the team. Protect + Stealth Rock is in my opinion the most consistent option since it puts a hard stop to a lot of the Choice Locked attackers your opponent may rely on in order to break through it like CB Scizor, CB Slither Wing and Scarf Pawmot. It also works well alongside Knock Off users who can lure in Talonflame for Naclstack to then use as fodder for Salt Cure and Stealth Rock shenadigans. Tera Poison is chosen for a better Gengar Matchup and the 4 speed EVs are chosen to always outspeed Quagsire since they share the same Speed tier.


Pros

One of the main things to take note of when it comes to Naclstack is definitely the two tools it has that are exclusive to the Nacli line, one of those tools being Salt Cure. Salt Cure is an effective way of forcing momentum since nothing really likes repeatedly having to switch into it, especially since our only good Regenerator mons take 25% per turn from it. This means that Salt Cure functions as by far the most effective way of forcing residual damage as a wincon by a longshot, which can be seen in this replay where Naclstack uses the many switchin opportunities it's afforded in order to force Rocks and Chip on the opposing team.

The other completely unique tool it has access to is Purifying Salt which is the main reason behind why it can sit on so much of the metagame. The Ghost resistance is probably the less useful of the two perks the ability affords it but it's still extremely valuable because of how it makes you into a great Gengar check, really only fearing Trick from Choiced variants and Focus Blast from Choice Specs or Nasty Plot specifically. In this replay Naclstack does just that by checking a lategame Choiced Gengar variant after my main Ghost resist has Tera'd into a typingw eak to Ghost. The status immunity is definitely the bigger of the two boons however as it allows it to sit on Talonflame mainly while also threatening it out and setting up hazards against it, but it also allows you to stonewall a Burnt Quagsire and Willo-O-Wisp Gengar variants.

Naclstacks generally solid bulk allows it to act as a generally good Special sponge into a large portion of our specially offensive mons such as Noivern, Iron Jugulis and Salamence because of it's above average Special Bulk with Eviolite and Flying Resistance. This is even further exhasperated by the common Sandstorm and by Defensive Terastilization options that help solve the main issues the Rock typing inherently comes with. This can be seen in this replay where Naclstack Terastilizes in order to wall Rotom-Mow lategame after Wo-Chien lost it's Leftovers.


Cons

There are however a lot of issues with Naclstack and one of the main ones I noticed while using it that it simply does not matchup against our current metagame well because of how big the focus on Physical Attackers is in the current metagame. Mons like Slither Wing, Scizor and especially Tyranitar can easily scare it out and/or use it as setup fodder. This issue is very notable in this replay where Naclstack literally does not come in at all because my opponents team consists of two Fighting Types, one Steel Type and one Ground Type. The Iron Jugulis Being Booster Energy +Charge Beam + Tera Ground Earth Power does not help much either, which leads to Naclstack being entirely useless.

Another issue that I commonly encountered while using this team was that Naclstack in particular is incredibly weak against Substitute Sweepers in particular because of how it's main attacking move does pathetic damage and only KOs the substitutes of things that are weak to Salt Cure. In this replay the opposing teams Gengar is a Sub + Nasty Plot variant that's using Leftovers, which means that Naclstack basically can't touch it despite using terastilization. I end up having to sack two mons because of this massive blunder but still win in the end because of how Alomomola just walled it's way to victory.

But by far the biggest issue I encountered was definitely Item removal, mainly Trick but also the occasional Knock Off Tech. Knock Off is extremely common in the current metagame with a ton of abusers currently sitting at the top of the Viability Rankings at the moment, which makes using Naclstack a bit obnoxious because of how it's scared to death by most of the top mons. Trick is however definitely the biggest issue because of how many Special Attackers you realistically speaking should be checking like Gardevoir and Gengar easily turn the tables on you with just the click of a button. This replay showcases this because of how Naclstack becomes utterly useless after the Espeon gets off a Trick, which would definitely have been a big issue if I wasn't playing against a gimmick team :V.

I also noticed that it was extremely tricky to actually build a team around Naclstack in the first place. It needs a ton of support to consistently check the things it needs to, such as consistent hazard removal so that it doesn't repeatedly take chip damage and a backup Special sponge to deal with the Special Attackers it can't stomach. I feel as if you have to cut a few too many corners in building to actively justify using it, which can lead to your team being weirdly weak to some popular mons within the metagame.


Conclusion

So overall Naclstack is quite the interesting mon with a lot of entirely unique upsides that definitely makes it viable within the tier, such as checking some of the scariest mons in the tier and being the rare example of one of our few viable status absorbers. Unfortunately it also has a lot of flaws attached to it that make it a bit harder to justify using, particularly it's passivity, weakness to common moves and lack of flexibility when it comes to the teamstyles it can fit on. I'd personally rank it in the C+ rank as of now, mainly because of how it really doesn't deserve to be ranked amongst the genuinely awful gimmick mons that nobody seriously uses like Forretress and Cetitan.


EDIT: Adding some commentary.

Do not rely on this to switch into any attacks. Even with Eviolite. You're gonna find yourself having to click Recover the next turn because of how much damage it takes from an attack that isn't less-effective against it. Most of the time I had to make sure that Naclstack is at full health and gets a clean switch so that it can wall easier and build up Iron Defenses. Because of this, I agree with the statement here.

Generally I also found that 8 pp on recover was a huge issue for Naclstack because of how it will repeatedly have to take chip damage from hazards + the U-Turns the mons it checks like to spam. Having to constantly click Recover because of hazard chip kind of offsets that whole "using Talonflame and Gengar for offensive momentum" since you're not clicking Salt Cure or Rocks and the low PP doesn't help much either. This is why Sandstorm and/or a Wish Passer are good additions to a Naclstack team, because of how they put the opposition on a timer and help conserve Recover PP respectively.

 

[lavarina]

i'm not gonna lie, i was pretty surprised to see these two as the new Pokemon for the research week. Especially Naclstack. So of course I had to try out both! Also damn I really want some mushroom cream soup.

Brute Bonnet
​

Brute Bonnet @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire/Poison/Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Bullet Seed
- Sucker Punch
- Spore
- Growth/Synthesis/Close Combat

I put Brute Bonnet in a Sun team with Grafaiai as my sun setter and Slither Wing as the second sun abuser. Needless to say, using Brute Bonnet was pretty fun but often times challenging. You're able to Spore things and set up with Growth, whether in or out of Sun, and blast away with Bullet Seed. You could go for Grass for a stronger Bullet Seed, or Fire/Poison to get rid of the awful defensive typing and avoid status. It's bulky enough to tank a U-Turn from Talonflame and it has access to recovery in Synthesis to heal off damage. I personally liked using Sucker Punch here because Brute Bonnet isn't really the fastest attacker it wants to be, so sniping the opposing mons before getting hit is always nice. Here we can see how Brute Bonnet manages to OHKO Talonflame with a boosted Sucker Punch, keeping the tide in its favor.

Extra replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827109936
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826562884

Playing with and against this Pokemon means you have to be extra careful around it. When playing with Brute Bonnet in your team, you want it to be as healthy as possible so that you can be as annoying as possible. When against it, you have to decide which Pokemon would you sacrifice for a Spore. And that's always annoying to deal with because if you don't have a Pokemon that can withstand Brute Bonnet, you'll find yourself in a difficult situation.

Here's some things holding it back though:

1. This Asshole
Always gotta have The Asshole™ here. Not only does Tsareens have Queenly Majesty to block Sucker Punch, its Grass typing lets it not get hit by Spore and take a non-boosted Bullet Seed with ease. To be fair, a boosted Bullet Seed either under Sun or Growth would definitely deal damage, but Tsareena is faster than Brute Bonnet. This means that it can easily U-Turn out of there, which will deal a dent to Brute Bonnet instead.

2. First Impression and U-Turn
This guy () and this guy () are everywhere. So unless you manage to catch them offguard with Terastilization, you're pretty much walking on eggshells going against them. Brute Bonnet outright loses against Slither Wing unless Spored, and Lokix can manage to get away with ease and still deal damage against Tera'd Brute Bonnet through Tinted Lens.

3. Burn and Paralysis
Poison is sort of easier to deal with, since it doesn't hinder you attacking. Burns and Paralysis on the other hand will absolutely mess you over, especially the former where Bullet Seed already has low PP. So often times you have to be careful not to let your Brute Bonner get statused.

Naclstack
​

Naclstack @ Eviolite
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDo
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Recover

ngl, i knew absolutely nothing on how to use this. So i went to the stats in the UUPL tour and yoinked this set from there along with the team. Safe to say, Naclstack can be quite the solid wall when in the correct position. If you manage to take out the strong special attackers on the opposing team, then Naclstack is able to Iron Defense and Recover back any damage dealt. And it can still deal damage turn by turn thanks to its signature move Salt Cure. Not only that, Purifying Salt blocks any attempt to status it completely, so there's no hope in trying to Toxic or Burn it.

Here I was able to put Naclstack in a position where the opponent couldn't do anything to my Naclstack. Crit from Goodra was definitely scary, but thankfully they didn't get it and I was able to win the game just by stalling them out. Another example of a match is here where their physical attackers couldn't do anything to a +6 defense Naclstack.

Onto the weaknesses!

1. Reliance on Eviolite
Unlike it's fully evolved version that can run Leftovers, Naclstack has to run Eviolite so that its defenses would be bulky enough for the UU metagame. Without it, it becomes much easier to deal with, especially on the special side. This makes it really Knock Off and Trick weak, as losing Eviolite is pretty bad for it. Let alone the latter of being Tricked into a Choice item.

2. Reliance on Terastilization
Rock is a pretty bad defensive typing in the metagame. Quoting from pomfpomfpluff:

one of the main ones I noticed while using it that it simply does not matchup against our current metagame well because of how big the focus on Physical Attackers is in the current metagame. Mons like Slither Wing, Scizor and especially Tyranitar can easily scare it out and/or use it as setup fodder.

There are many times where I had to Tera Ghost just to avoid being OHKO'd or 2HKO'd by threats and build up Iron Defenses. This makes it very hard to fit in because you might rather use up your Tera for something else.

3. Positioning
Do not rely on this to switch into any attacks. Even with Eviolite. You're gonna find yourself having to click Recover the next turn because of how much damage it takes from an attack that isn't less-effective against it. Most of the time I had to make sure that Naclstack is at full health and gets a clean switch so that it can wall easier and build up Iron Defenses. Because of this, I agree with the statement here.

I feel as if you have to cut a few too many corners in building to actively justify using it, which can lead to your team being weirdly weak to some popular mons within the metagame.

Conclusion
Both Pokemon were surprisingly fun for me to play. Brute Bonnet can be a solid sweeper that can break through stuff like Sturdy and is tanky enough to take at least a hit or so. Naclstack is a good wall that can hold its ground against opposing teams that aren't prepared for it. Both do have their weaknesses, but they're both still viable in the metagame. The former better than the latter of course.​

 

[Mystras]

INTRO: I realized that since I'm a dean, I don't really need to make an alt account to participate since I am not in the leaderboard so I may as well. I was planning to post before everyone else to make it easier to respond but I procrastinated in making this and yeah lol. I was interested in Naclstack when I saw it in UUPL, and then when Pomf used it in one of his Research Week posts I believe so I figured I give it a try to see how much I liked it.

Naclstack



SETS USED:

Naclstack @ Eviolite
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Salt Cure
- Recover

SUMMARY: This is the only set I used, maybe if I used Fairy in hindsight it would've made some matchups like Choice Banded Tyranitar feel less shit but at the same time it depends on how well you can handle threats like Lucario. Salt Cure is broken, it makes Nacl one of the hardest Talonflame punishes in the game since you don't even worry about most things aside from Taunt and U-turn but aside from that anything else guarantees chip damage over time that does not have any immunity and especially hurts some of the Pokemon you want to bring into this thing like Tinkaton and Quagsire.






These are the teams II ended up having the best results with, I leaned more into a setup focused stall since toxic distribution is limited so slower teams sort of need something to add some oomph to their gameplay. Talonflame is added cause it was the fast defog user. I don't like it as a defog user but my choice was between that or Altaria and I just chose the one who had more offensive pressure against the fighters. I did try alt for like a couple games so I felt it was right to add a variation with it.

Common problem, choosing which mon to tera. Wo-Chien and Nacl very much appreciate it, sometimes Hippowdon, sometimes Slowking and choosing who to use makes it really difficult to decide on.

I also noticed that it was extremely tricky to actually build a team around Naclstack in the first place. It needs a ton of support to consistently check the things it needs to, such as consistent hazard removal so that it doesn't repeatedly take chip damage and a backup Special sponge to deal with the Special Attackers it can't stomach. I feel as if you have to cut a few too many corners in building to actively justify using it, which can lead to your team being weirdly weak to some popular mons within the metagame.

Yeahhhhh, its part of why I think Nacl can be pretty fishy. Ive had issues from Grafaiai and Tink threatening knock off to Gyara setting up and then ttar being a pain to deal with. It's just sort of rough

NOTABLE REPLAYS:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1824792307-5waikhdnz5xb0vfaj76lid0204t0206pw - Maus is kind of just the biggest entry point ever for Nacl to put in some work against HO. Anything else and I would imagine it would be a lot more difficult to manage without using the tera and even then Iron Jugulis.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1824892893-y7j9ezuw1djcm91uo62p2p690k1leeipw - I lost to this guy like 3 times, some things like Sandy Shocks, Grafaiai, CB tar. These all sort of just stop Nacl from even going off which is very annoying.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1824908912-wt986wyt9615xof2a7ylw6cfmily76upw - Scream Tail is really annoying, nothing much else to say. I was sort of suffocated and there's not much else to say.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827074809-hi9ieokraj2pv08vzrk7vi0w5om86t7pw - Nacl may have the cure to salt but it does not stop me from being salty, or my opponent for that matter. I was so surprised to see phys def scream tail go this hard, absolutely tanking the meteor mash and better creating a win setup for Naclstack.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827112157-0kryec91o2o0s7atzu5m9t05m92d6e1pw - Rare wholesome replay, despite us playing pretty degenerate mons LOL. I did not have fun dealing with Alomomola and the opposing Live Reaction. I got some advice from my opponent for Altaria since I notice the Paralysis messing with the willo set which would've made Tinkaton a million times easier to deal with but they suggested Perish Trapping cause Alom and Wo Chien were the most irritating to deal with even tho his Wo Chien was likely ghost I decided to give it a shot.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828461059-yshy166yf8o9n6h1lrgebavzqgav7fvpw - It worked, I did get lucky with rest talk rolls im not even gonna lie but it did give me wiggle room to work with. Take note of the fact that I did not even bring out Naclstack once cause I didn't feel like I had a very good opportunity to. Kind of compounds on the fact that searching for chances to use Naclstack can be few and far in between.


CONCLUSION: It's fishy and kind of hard to build around, but at least its the kind of fish you won't hate yourself for bringing on ladder if you want considering how funny it is to pull off.

OVERALL RATING: C+

 

[DiannieRatson]

SVUURW5 Diannie

Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet and Naclstack

INTRO: This week seems more exhausting as I get used to studying more replays and the research subjects this week in Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet + Naclstack made this research week interesting and fun again. I started the research by checking all current UUPL games and viewed all the games with Brute Bonnet and Naclstack in it. There is only one Naclstack replay in there so I immediately chose the set used in that game and just slapped Brute Bonnet in the team.

I’ll begin with my findings about Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet first.

Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet



SET USED:

Brute Bonnet @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
- Synthesis
- Close Combat

SUMMARY: The research week revolved specifically around Loaded Dice variant of Brute Bonnet and thus Bullet Seed is here. The rest of the moves may change but I decided to stay and just spam one set. Spore is a nice midground move most of the time. Close Combat was clicked only a few times but seems clutch and synthesis was also there. I should have switched synthesis coz I paired it with sand + naclstack and like I tend to switch into Slowking’s Chilly reception so synthesis is not that efficient. Not limited to Loaded Dice variant, Brute Bonnet is good into hippowdon, Gyarados, Sableye, Toedscruel, Utility Grafaiai (i forgot to save the replay to demonstrate this and besides, i already included so many replays here with opp Prankster), quagsire (still beware of toxic), gastrodon, donphan, sandy shocks (beware of tera ice though), slowking (beware of the rare fblast variant), wo-chien (to be immune to leech seed and brute bonnet has close combat), arboliva (beware of tera blast poison/fire), and ig iron thorns too(beware of tera flying when only dmg moves are cc and bullet seed). The checks and counters I encountered are the following: Iron jugulis, brambleghast (if no coverage for it), those that is immune to its spore like Tsareena, bug types like Lokix and Slither Wing, status, Forretress (if Bullet Seed is the only attacking move), Talonflame, and Scizor.

Naclstack



SET USED:

Naclstack @ Eviolite
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Salt Cure
- Recover
- Body Press
- Iron Defense

SUMMARY: For this research week, the Naclstack set is flex but I still stick to 1 set which I just found out that was similar with what other researchers used already. While watching the replays, I noticed that Naclstack isn’t really that tanky without the help of sand for special side and to play it safe, it should not switch in versus physical attacks unless resisted or it is weak enough to not get 3hkoed. Generally with the help of eviolite, I managed to switch Naclstack into salamence (depending on set but preferably vs special type), tyranitar (with body press variant naclstack), hippowdon (naclstack iron defense), Noivern, Iron Jugulis, Forretress (if you ignore the hazards), Lokix (depending on the move combo but LO Brick Break as demo’d below can just be recovered by Naclstack), and talonflame. It is commonly answered by the following: hippowdon (too yeah coz of eq and it forces tera if naclstack wont switch given no set-up but theres the roar variant too btw), rotom-mow, tinkaton, gallade, and the likes of Slither Wing, Scizor, and Tyranitar that can set-up vs it without the Iron defense-Body Press set.

Bonus notes I have since I paired the two research subjects with Roar hippowdon, I wrote some common match-ups. Good vs opp hippowdon, tinkaton, salamence, talonflame, in which Roar can be clicked too as midground ig and it can come in vs Grafaiai.

NOTABLE REPLAYS:

I chose 41 24 replays as usual with some short commentary on each.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1825673241-tb9ijynydakjlqubkgybx5n3drcv08epw

• First game. Brute Bonnet spored Gyara. Naclstack comes in vs Forretress.

Sableye

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1825677578-xaohosn9tk6j1ls13uew4pacapxd66hpw

• No need to watch….It was over when I remembered Prankster moves doesn’t work on Brute Bonnet so idk why I was afraid of wisp and I could just click Spore.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1825684578-tmy8c94qm9g1n5o3466agvsfm9bnwwqpw

• Fsr my opp is Bullet Seed weak and opp Salamence is afraid of spore so Brute Bonnet had a great time. Toedscruel and Tyranitar is weak to it while the rest get Brute forced.

Rematch

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1825689510-j1p6tf884ske5jkh4y0x0pvshl04c11pw

• Lokix Brick Break LO cannot break Naclstack

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826136283-bcjid1ti31wmlyszdx8gw1ixxjvslfgpw

• Fsr, opp Espeon only has Psychic as its dmg move so Brute Bonnet has been a menace here too especially with opp Gastrodon and Hippowdon.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826141496-jeyma2tup6nmexun0fz7lpy3ctpnoubpw

• Brute Bonnet flexing its Future Sight immunity and sporing a counter in Talonflame. Naclstack Tera Ghost vs Focus Miss Gengar

Naclstack 1v5

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826176695-g0iswy7nja2ylheysptjpzxuu1p0bl9pw

• Naclstack 1v5 with the help of Brute Bonnet sporing mence, Gengar disabled opp Lucario’s bullet punch so Tera Ghost made it easier to set-up. At max def, opp lucario, tyranitar, sandy shocks, sleeping mence, and brambleghast fell over the combo of salt cure and boosted body press.

Lost again...

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826183628-m2boj6i70kissycakg05lggvnygohjcpw

• Brute Bonnet got annoyed by opp Quag’s toxic and tsareena

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826322329-jxrzbe60z1rke5mc9pmyobu32sz9j3jpw

• Brute Bonnet vs Slowking and Sandy Shocks late game.

I should have lost since I lost talonflame

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826436633-mt7vxqfkeu7zonjnd76mse2d61j64capw

• Close Combat helps vs Wo-chien ig although brute bonnet kinda hates knock off too. Naclstack kinda saved me here too as tera ghost saved me vs gallade

Safety goggles salamence countered spore

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1826442344-1lq01zmu2onbhd8vxe69i96jey2whwdpw

• Safety goggles mence made me want to use Crunch now instead of CC or synthesis.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827234416-g5mdk2ww7jq3wcccnb7j90mrebniijapw

• Electric terrain stopped spore….that’s all notable here ig but naclstack also came in and help win

Naclstack 1v5

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827239006-5mcihtx5aczfylbps6xght8tt90qj1cpw

• Another replay where Scizor comes in vs brute bonnet. Naclstack swept setting up vs tera steel scizor.

Idk how to break the pivot chain

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1827243547-mcqnfrway4ldugla4a8zkid5680swlypw

• This replay also reminded me to put talonflame in the list of mons where naclstack can switch in.

Bad first game in a while

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828540732-aqeu42kz8d2l31a8a4zr9jngit88qnnpw

• Close combat helped vs arboliva and 2nd time I met a tera flying iron thorns this week. I didn’t plan a wincon in the game so I still lost the 4v2 advantage and Naclstack got tricked.

Hippowdon ftw - another day of grinding

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828665700-6yqbrpacupj8m4y9ugskd5mjz5eedjipw

• Assisted by brute bonnet (worn out other mons plus spored and forced quag to tera) and naclstack (checked gengar). 3rd toxic quag example already in a span of days

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828672716-svvenzlhjz8dt1c3gew31dq3xm5pl31pw

• Brute Bonnet taking only 31% vs opp Scream Tail

Naclstack vs +2 mence

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828677470-ilv9rngqskk9vpmm5owiuy4kmq2pip5pw

• Naclstack stopped an almost mence sweep

I choked my streak

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1828680238-jwb0pyoxsqo1ahmi55oqaohxuqf4lkspw

• 2nd time I saw mimikyu vs brute bonnet…ig bullet seed indeed has its up vs seed bomb

Day 6 battle of 1200s

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1829416789-8d2jvrzoekf9x16tru8yct8gbi3nl3dpw

• Dark Pulse gengar KOed tera ghost naclstack….I’m pro ban Gengar now becoz those coverage moves plus the speed tier plus spatk even without boost from like specs is already great.

Stalled

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1829430771-8jdezrb1l40xbe9dj8tdezpsnij2yp9pw

• Fun fact, i played this replay on laptop and clicked hyperfast coz I know this was the stall game i played yesterday. Then, I just saw Mystras Leoxses post about Naclstack and I already read those all yet the replay is still at t132. Im currently writing this while the replay is still playing on background and I am just enjoying the sound of switching ig especially the one with Alomomola switching in regenerating everything I throw at it. This was kinda long because I decided to continue writing here until that replay finished. Whew finally it ended t208….

Won vs a 1385 rated player

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1829479934-lmmfeijog3x8u9cs2m2b7he7o27er7bpw

• Somehow I won this game without being aware that Tauros-Aqua is my wincon. I just click Bulk Up and surprised it swept the remaining mons with the help of rocks and Brute Bonnet weakening the Scizor to low HP coz apparently CC does 43%.

Rock wins games

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1829483119-tapac5vnbn5pesd14d188hf0r4vyt21pw

• Stealth rock, roar hippowdon, salt cure’d SD Talonflame….idk why it boost to +6 before deciding to atk but still flare blitz only did 90% so naclstack survived and KOed it with one salt cure.

CONCLUSION:

Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet is worthy of being a standard set based on the findings of this research. The item gives an opportunity for Brute Bonnet to deal more damage at the opportunity cost of not being able to use another item. The EV spreads should be as close to max, if not max, in order to justify its use compared to other sets.

As for Naclstack, it is a mon that deserves its presence on the current SV UU VR. With Eviolite, it has better bulk than most of the other mons actually on both sides. Because of that though, it needs to rely on Recover to heal itself and continue walling its intended targets. Its typing helps it get an added boost from Sand but terastillization means it will change its typing that will make it lose that boost and probably even take chip damage from Sand as a result if ever it needs to Terastalize to absorb the damage from the opp mon.

OVERALL RATING:

Loaded Dice Brute Bonnet: (B) Currently, Brute Bonnet is ranked as B- in the official UU VR. I think that it is limited though to the perception about it to be just a niche mon that is only viable over other mons in Sun team. Brute Bonnet is more than just that though since it has access to Spore. It can also have an investment similar with Scizor to have a speed of 172 and a priority move in Sucker Punch which is STAB boosted too btw without sac’ing much investment for its bulk. It is still below Scizor though which is currently A- but it is impactful enough to warrant a B ranking. Half of the mons in A- and above in the current metagame have worse match-ups versus Brute Bonnet/it is a free switch for Brute Bonnet to click Spore or attack or synthesis which are normally the defensive mons in which it outspeed and outmatched. Grasses also are not that common to be immune to Spore or the grasses like Wo-Chien and Toedscruel can be Bruteforced by this bonnet 1v1. Grounds are also common, especially Hippowdon, Donphan, and Gastrodon. The combination of those attributes (access to Spore, prio move in Sucker Punch, high atk stat, loaded dice bullet seed, etc.) sets in apart from other mons that share its typing.

Naclstack: (B-) Naclstack is currently C tier in the UU VR. The ones in C tier are normally those that are outclassed yet have that small uniqueness in them compared to others so they are still ranked. This may be the case for the non-Body Press Iron Defense variant. Naclstack with Body Press and Iron Defense can serve as a wincon even without PP stalling unlike what other walls would do. It has obvious flaws so it is torn between a B- to C+ ranking even with that set. Salt Cure also makes it annoying for a lot of mons to deal with. This is also with considering Talonflame as one of the top mons and its Rock typing is not that common in the tier which also has several flying types at the top tiers of the VR. Those things make it a worthy choice over other defensive choices.

So overall Naclstack is quite the interesting mon with a lot of entirely unique upsides that definitely makes it viable within the tier, such as checking some of the scariest mons in the tier and being the rare example of one of our few viable status absorbers. Unfortunately it also has a lot of flaws attached to it that make it a bit harder to justify using, particularly it's passivity, weakness to common moves and lack of flexibility when it comes to the teamstyles it can fit on. I'd personally rank it in the C+ rank as of now, mainly because of how it really doesn't deserve to be ranked amongst the genuinely awful gimmick mons that nobody seriously uses like Forretress and Cetitan.

I agree on this conclusion made by pomfpomfpluff. I believe especially checking a specific variant of Gengar helps the case of Naclstack to rise aside from its salt cure and purifying salt ability. So it definitely should rise above C so I'm fine with it even with a C+ rise despite me thinking its B- tier worthy because of the Iron Defense Body Press set.

Playing with and against this Pokemon means you have to be extra careful around it. When playing with Brute Bonnet in your team, you want it to be as healthy as possible so that you can be as annoying as possible. When against it, you have to decide which Pokemon would you sacrifice for a Spore. And that's always annoying to deal with because if you don't have a Pokemon that can withstand Brute Bonnet, you'll find yourself in a difficult situation.

I will add to this statement the fact that Brute Bonnet has base 99 defenses on both sides in base 111 hp that can be invested for it to reach 401 max HP with still enough EVs to put for its speed to 172 and max atk +nature. I used Synthesis and been able to click it a lot of time because it is also a good midground to click. Something will get slept and then Brute Bonnet can click Synthesis whether opp switch or stay.

Looking forward to other researcher’s findings!

END of Diannie’s research notes Week 5

 

[Noxey]

BRUTE BONNET RESEARCH WEEK​

I used Brute Bonnet under SVUURW5 Q in this Bulky Offense tailored to have it make the most work possible.

Brute Bonnet @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire / Grass
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Close Combat / Tera Blast
- Spore​

Brute Bonnet is quite an interesting Pokémon in the current UU metagame, with its high attack, very good 111/99/99 bulk, and access to good offensive moves and to Spore. Its main drawbacks are his very mediocre speed, a very bad 4MSS bad defensive typing and a completely useless ability when used with Loaded Dice and without Sun.
The sets I used aim at being an efficient and versatile wallbreaker, with both Spore and Bullet Seed being no-brainer moves to click on any defensive Pokémon in front of Brute-Bonnet, and that do not require particular prediction to be used either. Loaded Dice Bullet Seed has higher 20-45 BP than Seed Bomb on HDB or other sets, it breaks Sturdy from Donphans and Disguise on Mimikyu and it is a very spammable non-contact STAB.
Sucker Punch is excellent at revenge killing threats like choiced Gengar or weakened setup sweepers that attempt to click their strong attacks, while Close Combat is excellent at picking up important damage on sturdier resists to Bullet Seed such as Tinkaton, Scizor and Wo-Chien. Tera Blast Fire is an option I explored less as it would require to always terastallize to hit the most common switch-ins, but it can be very useful to lure in Grass Types that might try to absorb Spore, or to damage or KO offensive threats that might attempt to come in whenever a member of their team is already sleeping, including Slither Wing, Lokix and the aforementioned Scizor.
Tera Grass really increases the power of Bullet Seed, allowing to pick up a 2HKO on Tinkaton and Tsareena and really limiting the switchins to the move in general, while eliminating the Dark typing and thus the Fighting weakness and the U-Turn 4x weakness.
I feel like Tera Fire is the more interesting option, allowing Brute Bonnet to not get burned, to eliminate the Fighting, Bug and Ice weaknesses, allowing it to improve considerably the matchup against the likes of Weavile, Talonflame, Tsareena, and many other threats to it, with the drawback of taking Stealth Rock damage. It is still a very good option as Water and Ground-type attacks typically come from slower Pokémon, but Tera has to be utilized carefully (duh).

Bad Matchups
& ​

Faster defensive Fire Types are problematic to deal with.
Talonflame resists Bullet Seed and Close Combat, it is hit hard by Sucker Punch (if it attacks, but it won't) and it will always be able to come in and Roost up to full.
Defense invested Tauros-Paldea-Blaze resists STABs and takes 35-ish from Close Combat after Intimidate, and it can Rest (effectively walling completely if it is Rest-Talk) or Bulk Up-Body Press set up.
Spore is what helps Brute Bonnet in these matchups, but it still struggles to muscle past these targets even when they are asleep.
Tera Fire also helps, but as usual Terastallizing is associated with high opportunity costs.

& ​

Tsareena is faster, cannot be put to sleep, cannot be Sucker Punch'd due to Queenly Majesty, has a 4x effective move that gains momentum on Brute Bonnet, it is faster and can always recover CC damage through Synthesis (as they share the same amount of PP).
Brambleghast is simply awful to deal with if the mushroom has no Crunch. It resists Bullet Seed, it can forever Strength Sap, it cannot be Spore'd, and it will never attack to get hit by Sucker Punch.
The Tsareena matchup requires good prediction and more often than not require Terastallization to be expended, especially if Brute Bonnet carries Tera Blast Fire.
Brambleghast is simply a 100% wall to non-Tera Blast or Crunch variants.

& & ​

Faster Bug types that can click 4x effective momentum gaining moves are incredible offensive checks. All of them hate Tera Blast Fire and Spore and 2 of them hate CC, however when a member of the opposing party is already asleep, these Pokémon can often switch in and click U-Turn or even set up sometimes.
As above, these matchup require care with Terastallization, Spore and CC usage.

& & & ​

Strong Flying types take full advantage of Brute Bonnet that is totally unable to damage them consistently and that gets heavily damaged by Hurricanes or Brave Bird.
Salamence in particular not only forces Brute Bonnet to switch but it functions as a great switch-in with its access to Intimidate, but it has to be wary of the usual Spore.
Putting these targets to sleep is usually the only way to keep them from switching in consistently.

Good Matchups
& & & ​

Ground types are very common in the current metagame due to Sandy Shocks, Pawmot and Talonflame's overwhelming presence. Brute Bonnet loves to come in on these passive setters (barring Toxic from Quag, Ice Beam/Sludge Bomb from Gastro or Ice Spinner from Donphan, which still do not manage to damage it to 2HKO range) to start claiming damage, kills, or to simply sleep targets.

​

Defensive Scream Tail is once again one of those Pokémon heavily damaged by the mushroom that cannot really touch it back, especially if it terastallized. Bullet Seed is very strong and spammable whenever Jigglypuff from the past is in the field.

Good Teammates (that I have tried)
​

Talonflame is an awful opponent and an incredible partner (as it always is in this tier), particularly because it can bring Brute Bonnet safely against the Ground and Water types. Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Quagsire, Slowking and even Sandy Shocks are the perfect opportunities for Brute Bonnet to start clicking its moves and wreak havoc on opposing teams.
Furthermore, the presence of Talonflame helps Brute Bonnet feel much safer against the likes of Lokix, Slither Wing, and Scizor.

​

Fire types are a problem, as are Flying types such as Salamence and Noivern. Slowking is very good at checking special variants of the latter two (especially with Tera Fairy), and it does not mind coming in on Fire types to take Will-O-Wisps or other attacks.
The main advantage of the combination of Slowking and the Mushroom, however, is offensive: the combo between Future Sight and Brute Bonnet attacks is great, as no Pokémon in the tier ever wants to switch into this (Dark types hate CC and strong Bullet Seeds, whereas Talonflame, Mence, Tauros do not want to take a Future Sight).

Replays​

I have played few games on my RW alt and all were on low ladder, I have experimented a lot on other accounts but of course my dumbass forgot to save replays. I will post some here.

Rating and Conclusions​

I rate Brute Bonnet as a whole pretty high (B or B+ even) as it causes massive headaches whenever it is on the field between Spore and strong attacks. Its bulk is impressive, being able to live attacks in the 1v1 from threats such as Pawmot (if Tera Fire'd), CB TTar or Sandy Shocks, and KO them back. It is never completely useless and only sometimes it can be very threatening, especially to more balance-oriented builds. However, Loaded Dice contains the inherent cost of being weak to hazards and being prone to be worn out through games. The remedy to this might be to carry Synthesis, but that would cause much more problems in terms of 4MSS, having to leave Sucker Punch out of the equation. Crunch STAB would help against the likes of Talonflame, Salamence, and Brambleghast, but the option of keeping priority through Sucker Punch or to hit other switchins through CC has been very important for me so I would rather have the rest of the team take care of them.

Thank you for reading, it has been a blast to experiment again in Research Week and to read other people's posts and findings! Looking forward to more insight and to the next week!

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

Research Academy - Naclstack





​

I used this set

Naclstack @ Eviolite
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Salt Cure
- Recover

on this team https://pokepast.es/c1aa0fc37636d2dc I wanted to test how it fit on stall. THis mon ended up being dead weight half the time, being unable to really come in especially with how bad its rock typing is, it cannot even switch into a lot of pokemon otherwise it just gets forced to recover. It sometimes did super super well in pressuring the opponents, some MU's it did jack shit esp against where you had to burn tera before and its stuck with its mediocre rock typing, and being very very reliant on eviolite to do anything.

The team focuses around just trying to rack up a shit ton of chip damage, and cripple pokemon while naclstack tries to sweep late game or can weaken them even further. It sometimes was used to just salt cure smth on HO to force them out, but that is just a 1 for 1 trade usually.

REPLAYS:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1830833226-mzj6jqd67x9pq3bqub223r9fugxuo4jpw (Here naclstack while putting in some work often spent the time recovering hits off and trying to not get owned by pawmot, I would say it did well but I really could've positioned it better vs slowking and quag to force even more chip damage)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1830843021-fpl6enbfhawdnnnqr2hxvudw7ohmz0ipw (Naclstack gets tricked and fucking dies, aka it relies a lot on eviolite to do anything)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1830973135-k5jfv05ozrenl2ze703nio5aknmb9dkpw (here shows the power when naclstack really gets going, it can really put in work vs an opponent team when it is able to be setup properly)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9uu-1831576902-gh00r9h54rogt7dwqvz8jcin691tokrpw (here is a MU Where it is getting owned by everyone, slither wing, flamingo, donphan, wo chien, zone. it just couldnt do much)

CONCLUSION:

Nacl is prob a C+ or B- tier mon, its hard to setup and its very hard to get it going in not ideal circumstances. If you had to burn tera before then you would relize how shit its typing is, and how reliant it is on eviolite. But when it gets going, it goes hard especially when you bring it in against pokemon such as quag and get an iron defense up, or they have a noivern that can give points of entry

 

[DraconicLepus]

RESEARCH WEEK 5 POINTS DUMP:

+25 Points pomfpomfpluff - Highest Elo (10), Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+15 Points DiannieRatson - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+15 Points lavarina - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5), Commentary (5)
+10 Points HydreigonTheChild - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5)
+10 Point Noxey - Documented Findings (5), Exemplary Effort (5)

Congratulations to DiannieRatson for rising the ranks in ★ The SV UU Research Academy ★ as Adjunct Faculty! (75+ cumulative points). We hope to see more participants join academy hierchy!

WEEK 5 WRAP:

Starting off with Brute Bonnet, it had very good reception overall! The utility Brute Bonnet can give into the tiers ground types and other defensive staples such as Scream Tail with the use of Tera to remove its Grass/Dark typing. As said by many people in this weeks research, Spore is annoying and one of the biggest boons Bonnet has going for it. Not having something that can go into it like Tsareena or Brambleghast means that you'll have to choose a mon to go down to Spore. Bonnet also doesn't like the strong bug types like Slither Wing or Scizor, and our defensive fire types. It's coverage, utility, and ability to go against common defensive staples of the tier put it in a strong position currently.

Naclstack has some really strong perks, but also a lot of downsides which you have to consider. Its signature move and ability Salt Cure and Purifying Salt are what make it unique. Salt Cure inflicts 1/8th of a Pokémon's health every single turn, and 1/4th to Water and Steel types. This always lets it hinder something when it comes in and is able to attack. Purifying Salt as well makes it immune to status, and halves damage from ghost type moves. One of the few viable status deniers in the tier. With Eviolite giving it good bulk, and Recover to keep itself healthy it has a good few perks as a wall. However it equally has its downsides. It is very weak to hazards, so having good hazard removal is important. It also greatly relies on its eviolite so item removal, despite how rare it is, is very annoying for Naclstack. It is also very reliant on Tera because Rock is not the best defensive typing. It's hard to position and teambuild with it since it fits on very specific team styles. It can be hard to set up when using Iron Defense sets due to earlier reasons, but is very good when it gets going. Naclstack while niche is definitely viable and deserves thought in the UU meta.

Week 6
ALT CODE: SVUURW6(name)
​

For Week 6, we have selected our research subjects to be Quaquaval and Iron Leaves!

Quaquaval - Bulk Up

Quaquaval
Ability:
- Bulk Up
-
-
-

Quaquaval, the water type starter of Scarlet and Violet joins UU! Water/Fighting with its signature move Aqua Step, Quaquaval has a lot of benefits of good things going for it! With so many potential options we decided to focus on one particular set, Bulk Up! Being able to boost up its stats easily, and good utility in Roost and Ice Spinner, will it be as good as it seems to be on paper?

Iron Leaves - any set

Naclstack
Ability:
-
-
-
-

Iron Leaves, another new addition to UU from the recent April drops. The paradox version of Virizion joins us to see how it is in comparison to its original from gen 5. With great coverage like Close Combat, Stone Edge, alongside setup and utility in Swords Dance and Taunt, how is Iron Leaves going to do in this meta? Or will its Grass/Psychic typing hold it back with a plethora of strong bug types and defensive checks such as Salamence, lets found out how it fairs!

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):

template

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

: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 SVUURW6 Mantis or SVUURW6 Popgoesthe ) 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 April 12th at 11:59 PM GMT-5. Have fun everyone!!

 

[pomfpomfpluff]

Confirming as SVUURW6 Val

Will be doing Iron Leaves