(BAN ME PLEASE): A Look Back at the Bans in STABmons

By Kris and baconbagon. Art by FellFromtheSky.
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Art by FellFromtheSky

Introduction

On December 10, 2015, a fateful change was made to the STABmons ladder on Pokémon Showdown!. The metagame had recently been going through some huge changes—for a while, Pokémon could only learn new status or new attack moves of their typing but not both. However, with the support of several other users, metagame leader Eevee General decided to revert STABmons back to the classic ruleset. This would serve two purposes: to simplify the rules in preparation for the Other Metagames Grand Slam and to establish a simple and stable metagame before the likely removal of the STABmons ladder come Generation VII. The banlist reverted to that of the OU ladder, plus Sketch and Chatter, and the community had the opportunity to influence what would be banned in the upcoming months. Up until OM Grand Slam, Eevee General was strongly against banning moves and only wanted to ban Pokémon; however, after the reversion, he changed his position on the view, as he thought, and we quote, "I saw it as an alternative to balance the metagame without falling into a 'ban spiral'.'" Pokémon that had been banned previously, like Keldeo, Mega Slowbro, and Sylveon, were left unbanned this time around due to the new philosophy. This article will inform you about each of the bans in the order that they were removed from the metagame; we hope you enjoy!

The bans

Sketch and Chatter

December 10, 2015

Sketch was banned from the get-go for one big reason: it gave all Normal-types access to one move of any type that they didn't already have. For example, it could've given Mega Lopunny V-create to deal with Mega Scizor, and Talonflame Close Combat to deal with Rock-types.

Chatter, however, was banned for a completely different reason. It acted as a pseudo-Swagger by allowing all Flying-types to cripple foes to give them an easier time to set up. For example, if Thundurus didn't want to run Taunt, it could run Chatter and both damage and confuse the foe. Afterwards, the confusion would normally force a switch, giving Thundurus a free turn to set up with Nasty Plot, which resulted in Thundurus becoming a wincon for a lot of matches. Talonflame ran Chatter too, even to the extent where it ran special sets consisting of Chatter, Shell Smash, Earth Plate Judgment, and Blue Flare, all because it got priority Chatter due to Gale Wings.

Shell Smash and Belly Drum

December 12, 2015

Shell Smash and Belly Drum were some of most broken setup moves.

For example, threatening setup sweepers like Mega Altaria and Bibarel could use Shell Smash instead of their normal setup moves in Dragon Dance and Curse, respectively, which allowed them to get monstrous boosts in Attack and Speed and continue to sweep with their moves. Not only that, almost all of the Pokémon that got access to these moves—Mega Altaria, Sylveon, Bibarel, Mega Lopunny, and Porygon-Z to name a few—had outrageously good abilities—Pixilate, Simple, Scrappy, and Adaptability—to use in tandem with this. Mega Altaria and Sylveon would first set up Shell Smash and then use Pixilate-boosted Extreme Speeds and Boombursts backed up by +2 Attack and Special Attack to sweep teams. Similarly, Bibarel would set up Shell Smash first as well; however, this time, Bibarel would get +4 Attack and Speed, which meant that it could outprioritize Adamant Shell Smash Mega Lopunny or Belly Drum Mega Lopunny, Adamant +2 Mega Altaria, Sylveon, and Lonely +2 Porygon-Z. Mega Lopunny could set up Shell Smash to get to +2 Attack and Speed and then continue to outprioritize and KO almost any Pokémon when used in tandem with Scrappy. Finally, Porygon-Z could set up Shell Smash and proceed to use Extreme Speed, Fire- or Fighting-type Judgment, and Shadow Ball extremely effectively, thanks to Adaptability and +2 Attack, Special Attack, and Speed.

Belly Drum on the other hand was a little different. Pokémon that already had access to Belly Drum (Azumarill, Snorlax, and Ursaring) were joined by a new group of Belly Drum users in Mega Lopunny and Diggersby. Like with Shell Smash, all of the Pokémon that got access to Belly Drum could use it extremely effectively with their abilities; this resulted in Mega Lopunny sweeping teams because it could hit Sableye with High Jump Kick and Gengar with Extreme Speed and Diggersby sweeping teams because its already double Attack with Huge Power was boosted six more stages, which resulted in extremely powerful Extreme Speeds, Precipice Blades, and Wild Charges.

Dark Void and Geomancy

December 14, 2015

Dark Void Weavile was extremely dangerous, as it could put a switch-in such as Keldeo or Azumarill to sleep and then start throwing out attacks freely or use Swords Dance to boost its Attack and sweep teams with Sucker Punch. Sableye had priority on Dark Void thanks to Prankster, which gave it yet another option to harass teams and shut down setup sweepers with. Other Dark-types, such as Tyranitar and Bisharp, could also use Dark Void to obtain easy setup opportunities. While the 80% accurate Dark Void was banned, the 100% accurate Spore avoided the banhammer, as opposing Grass-types (and Safety Goggles and Overcoat users) were immune to it and Pokémon such as Serperior and Mega Venusaur were generally less threatening than Weavile and Sableye.

The most common Geomancy users were Togekiss and Sylveon, which were capable of sweeping easily after one turn of boosting. For its Flying STAB move, Togekiss could run either Oblivion Wing, which allowed it to stay healthy without using Roost, or Air Slash, which had a high chance of stopping the foe from moving thanks to Serene Grace and the +2 Speed granted by Geomancy. It also had excellent coverage in Aura Sphere and Fire Blast, as well as another strong STAB attack in Moonblast. Geomancy Sylveon was definitely less threatening than Shell Smash Sylveon, but the core concept remained the same: +2 Boombursts and a high Speed stat were extremely difficult to deal with for any team. However, Sylveon could not run a typed Plate alongside Judgment due to it needing Power Herb for one-turn Geomancies. There was some debate about these bans, but eventually Dark Void and Geomancy were banned simultaneously.

Mega Metagross

Mega Metagross

December 16, 2015

Mega Metagross was banned before Shift Gear, which made it a near-unstoppable setup sweeper. To begin with, when it used Shift Gear, it could use that alongside Heavy Slam, Ice Punch, and Earthquake to reach outrageous Attack levels with an incredibly strong STAB contact move to OHKO or 2HKO almost any Pokémon in the STABmons metagame. Even when it couldn't hit something reliably with Heavy Slam, Mega Metagross still got coverage in Ice Punch and Earthquake to reliably hit Flying-, Ground-, Dragon-, Grass-, Electric-, Fire-, Rock-, and Steel-types like Tornadus-T, Landorus-T, Garchomp, Serperior, Magnezone, Mega Charizard X, Mega Diancie, and opposing Mega Metagross. Almost nothing could switch into Mega Metagross reliably and was hit by one of its moves and almost always OHKOed after a Shift Gear, which resulted in its banning.

Mega Aerodactyl

Mega Aerodactyl

December 24, 2015

One of Mega Aerodactyl's biggest flaws in standard play is its mediocre power. Despite its solid base 135 Attack and fantastic base 150 Speed, its inability to use a boosting item, lack of powerful Tough Claws- and STAB-boosted attacks, and reliance on the inconsistent Stone Edge relegate it to UU. However, with Head Smash and Dragon Ascent added to its movepool, Mega Aerodactyl was an absolute offensive titan in STABmons. Adamant Mega Aerodactyl was capable of feats such as OHKOing Rotom-W after Stealth Rock with Head Smash and OHKOing Mega Latias without defensive investment after Stealth Rock with Dragon Ascent. Diamond Storm was an excellent choice for a more reliable and spammable Rock-type STAB attack, and Roost was also a common sight, as Mega Aerodactyl could be worn down very quickly with Stealth Rock and Head Smash recoil. Coverage options such as Earthquake, Fire Fang, and Aqua Tail allowed Mega Aerodactyl to immediately threaten some bulkier walls, and Pursuit was also usable to trap threats such as Latios and Starmie. Despite its average bulk and mediocre defensive typing, Mega Aerodactyl was banned for its ability to destroy teams with ease.

King's Rock Razor Fang

King's Rock and Razor Fang

December 24, 2015

These items were banned largely because of one Pokémon: Cloyster. With either item equipped, Cloyster's Water Shuriken had a 40.951% chance of making the foe flinch. This wasn't completely unstoppable, as Cloyster could still be revenge killed by Fake Out + Extreme Speed users and struggled to break through bulky Water- and Steel-types. However, a powerful priority move with a very high flinch chance and good neutral coverage was naturally extremely difficult to deal with for some teams, especially in conjunction with Cloyster's coverage options in Icicle Spear and Rock Blast. As more people spammed Cloyster on all of their teams, it became clear that it was a strongly negative influence in the metagame and that banning these items would have very little collateral damage. They were banned in the same day as Mega Aerodactyl.

Mega Altaria<

Mega Altaria

January 6, 2016

Mega Altaria was an extremely versatile Pokémon and could fit onto almost any team well. What made it so dangerous was its ability to pull off every role it performed competently, courtesy of its well-rounded stats and access to new Normal-type moves thanks to Swablu's Normal typing.

Physically based sets could revenge kill a large amount of the metagame with Pixilate-boosted Fake Out and Extreme Speed and run Swords Dance to remedy Mega Altaria's somewhat mediocre initial power. There were many prevalent options to fill the remaining moveslots: Earthquake allowed Mega Altaria to KO Heatran, Fire Blast let it lure and KO Mega Scizor (which rarely ran Bullet Punch at the time) and Ferrothorn, Head Charge was a reliable strong STAB attack, and Roost allowed it to make the most of its solid bulk. With more defensive EV investment, Mega Altaria could also run bulkier Swords Dance sets with excellent longevity.

While Fire Blast served as a lure on physical sets, it was a staple on special sets for hitting many of the same Pokémon. However, the one move that allowed special sets to stand out was Pixilate-boosted Boomburst. This move was ridiculously strong, but don't just take our word for it. Take a look at these calcs for yourself:

... and so on. Earthquake was also commonly found on these sets for the sole purpose of hitting Heatran, which could still take Boomburst well thanks to its typing.

Finally, Mega Altaria had the option of running bulkier support sets. Its 75 / 110 / 105 bulk was decent, and with Heal Bell and unblockable Pixilate Rapid Spin, it could support its team well. These sets would still feature an attacking move in Boomburst or Extreme Speed, which were both reasonably powerful, despite the lack of offensive EV investment. Body Slam was also an option to fish for paralysis, as Mega Altaria forced switches with the threat of Boomburst easily, while Glare paralyzed foes more reliably.

After a short and rather one-sided debate, Mega Altaria was banned.

Diggersby

Diggersby

January 14, 2016

When it was legal, Diggersby was the most prominent physically offensive Normal-types in the metagame. Its Fake Out + Extreme Speed was ridiculously powerful with a Silk Scarf or a Life Orb equipped, and it allowed it to revenge kill many Pokémon with ease. Precipice Blades offered excellent coverage, and Head Charge was also a solid option for a stronger Normal-type STAB attack. Diggersby also had a wide range of coverage options in Knock Off, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Wild Charge and could pivot with U-turn. Finally, Diggersby had the option of running Swords Dance, which raised its power to insane levels and allowed it to run through teams extremely quickly. All of these factors made Diggersby difficult to prepare for and highly centralizing, which resulted in its ban.

Lovely Kiss and Shift Gear

March 3, 2016

Lovely Kiss was banned for similar reasons to Dark Void. However, the users this time were Normal-types and evolutions of Normal-types such as Mega Lopunny, Kangaskhan, Ursaring, Sylveon, and Azumarill. While Lovely Kiss was viewed as banworthy at an earlier stage in the metagame, the banning of Belly Drum had made it more manageable. However, Mega Lopunny, Kangaskhan, and Sylveon could still use Swords Dance, while Ursaring and Azumarill could still use Belly Drum, as they learned it naturally. The playerbase soon found that many different Pokémon having the ability to put any one foe to sleep and set up for free was too difficult to deal with, which resulted in Lovely Kiss's ban.

Directly after the rule reversion, Shift Gear was noted as being potentially banworthy, as threats such as Mega Scizor and Mega Metagross could sweep teams easily with their extreme power and excellent Speed after just one boost. However, with the banning of Mega Metagross and the growing popularity of Fire-type moves on Mega Altaria and Diggersby to deal with Mega Scizor, Shift Gear was largely forgotten. It gradually emerged back into the spotlight as the above threats were banned, and it once again became dominant in the metagame. Shift Gear was unique in the versatility of its users: each viable Steel-type had individual traits that meant no opposing team could truly be safe from every Shift Gear user. Bisharp's Defiant allowed it to bypass Landorus-T as a defensive check; Jirachi had excellent coverage in the elemental punches and was very difficult to handle with Serene Grace Iron Head and Heart Stamp; Excadrill could hit Rotom-W and Rotom-H with Mold Breaker Precipice Blades; and Scizor and Mega Scizor, commonly considered Shift Gear's flagship users, had ridiculously powerful Technician-boosted Gear Grinds and Pin Missiles. These Pokémon created unhealthy centralization within the metagame, so Shift Gear was deemed to be broken and banned.

Porygon-Z Kyurem-B

Porygon-Z and Kyurem-B

May 20, 2016

Being one of two more recent bans, Porygon-Z had a plethora of traits backing it up that caused it to get banned from STABmons. Even though it had average 85 / 70 / 75 bulk and a somewhat a somewhat low base 90 Speed (for an offensive Pokémon), both of these were remedied by its insane movepool, outrageous Special Attack, and access to two amazing abilities in Download and Adaptability.

To begin, Porygon-Z's pure Normal typing granted it access to many amazing moves. It was granted access to a ridiculously strong Boomburst and also gained Judgment, which it could use as a strong coverage move. Besides this, Porygon-Z also got Fake Out and Extreme Speed, allowing it to revenge kill a ton of threatening Pokémon very easily. It also gained the ability to run either Swords Dance to provide a large boost to its Attack for stronger Extreme Speeds or Work Up for all-around offensive boosts. Even if it wasn't running Judgment + a typed Plate, it still could run a Silk Scarf set for a decent boost to all moves without having to take the residual damage that Life Orb gives, a fully special Choice Specs set for insane power that led to powerful wallbreaking prowess (Choice Specs Adaptability Boomburst 2HKOed Eviolite maximum Special Defense Chansey after Stealth Rock), or a Choice Scarf set to let it perform well as a revenge killer without having to rely on Fake Out + Extreme Speed. Even then, regardless of the set it ran, Download and Adaptability made it extremely versatile. A Fake Out + Extreme Speed mixed attacking set with Download gave Porygon-Z the chance to get its Attack boosted from the get-go for a stronger Fake Out, whereas any set with Adaptability allowed Porygon-Z to have an overall increase in damage output.

Kyurem-B was banned for many well-justified reasons. To begin, its Ice / Dragon typing gave it newfound access to Dragon Dance, which allowed it to set up and sweep insanely efficiently. This, combined with a ridiculous base 170 Attack and decent base 95 Speed, alongside 120 / 100 / 90 bulk, allowed it to almost always survive a neutral or resisted hit by any Pokémon that still outsped it after a Dragon Dance and hit back with Icicle Crash, Dragon Claw, or Fusion Bolt. When it wasn't running a normal Dragon Dance + 3 attacks set (or even if it was), Kyurem-B could run lures in Earth Power and Hidden Power Fire to take care of the Rock- and Steel-types that threatened it. Kyurem-B could also run a Substitute + Roost set that consisted of the obvious Substitute and Roost, alongside Dragon Dance and Icicle Crash, with enough defensive EV investment and Speed investment to beat certain threats at +1.

Thundurus

Thundurus

August 6, 2016

Thundurus was the most recent ban in STABmons, and its ban was justified for many reasons. Firstly, Thundurus gained access to a move that performed both as a strong attack and a form of semi-reliable recovery in Oblivion Wing, which improved its coverage heaps when compared to standard OU. Besides that, it could use Prankster alongside three moves: Taunt, Nasty Plot, and Thunder Wave. Taunt was used to cripple opposing setup sweepers such as Manaphy and Mega Scizor; entry hazard setters such as Landorus-T, Heatran, and Ferrothorn; and status setters like Serperior, Heatran, and Porygon2. Nasty Plot was used to raise Thundurus's Special Attack to monstrously high levels to KO a new range of foes, as well as putting offensive pressure on the opponent. Thunder Wave was used to cripple faster threats such as Choice Scarf Keldeo and Choice Scarf Heatran. Thundurus also outsped the other prevalent Prankster users, Sableye and Klefki, allowing it to Taunt them, leaving them virtually useless. Whenever Thundurus wasn't running a Prankster set, it could run a fully physical set with its newfound access to Dragon Ascent and Bolt Strike, and when used alongside Superpower, Knock Off, and Defiant, it could be used as a lure for specially defensive Pokémon and Eviolite users like Chansey and Porygon2 and a deterrent to Defog and Intimidate. Due to its variety of sets, Thundurus was really unpredictable, and therefore, no Pokémon could reliably switch in on it. To add onto that, Thundurus's only counter was Fake Out + Extreme Speed, and even though almost every team ran a Fake Out + Extreme Speed user, Thundurus could use teammates like Gengar and Terrakion to counter them. In conclusion, Thundurus was an extremely versatile Pokémon with almost no reliable switch-ins or counters, which led to its banishment.

Conclusion

These bans may seem rather excessive to people new to STABmons, but every one of them has been important in creating a stable metagame where Pokémon receive incredible boosts to their movepools. Overall, STABmons has reached a level of stability previously unseen within Generation VI. Get out there and play some games before the arrival of Generation VII!

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