erisia
Innovative new design!
Approved by: Arcticblast
Hi all, this is erisia from the NU forums! I've recently become a little more active again, and have noticed the boom in popularity for the Other Metagames forum. So I thought I'd have a go at creating something a little different, and hopefully you'll find the proposition of Slowmons as interesting as I do. Joim is implementing this on his server soon for people to try, so hopefully that'll be ready soon. In the meantime, feel free to theorymon in this thread! Without further ado...
Slowmons!
Hi all, this is erisia from the NU forums! I've recently become a little more active again, and have noticed the boom in popularity for the Other Metagames forum. So I thought I'd have a go at creating something a little different, and hopefully you'll find the proposition of Slowmons as interesting as I do. Joim is implementing this on his server soon for people to try, so hopefully that'll be ready soon. In the meantime, feel free to theorymon in this thread! Without further ado...
The basic premise of Slowmons is that the slowest Pokémon would move first in a round of battle, as opposed to the fastest. It's more-or-less the same effect as Trick Room being active for the entire duration of the battle. This concept is pretty straightforward, although it's worth clarifying a few things.
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Other than the slowest Pokémon moving first, and Trick Room working slightly differently, this metagame is exactly the same as standard competitive battling. Obviously, with Speed roles being reversed, some moves and abilities will become more/less viable. Here's some good examples of things you might expect (or not!) to see on the battlefield!
------------
Due to increased Speed no longer being desirable, the following Pokémon are now unbanned for this metagame.
Pokémon such as Darkrai and Shaymin-S aren't going to be unbanned yet... but once this metagame kicks off, we can test them and see if they're still worthy Ubers in this slowness-orientated metagame! If you ask me, I reckon that Darkrai, Deoxys, Genesect, Shaymin-S, Thundurus-I, and Tornadus-T, wouldn't be broken in this metagame, but it'd be worth testing the metagame without them first to be rigorous.
------------
Here's some predictions from me about Pokémon that I think will be highly successful in this metagame! As discussion develops, I'll form a threat list here and keep it updated. I imagine it'd be pretty easy (and very useful!) to come up with Speed tiers for this metagame, so I'll work on them if this really starts to take off.
Reuniclus
110 / 65 / 75 / 125 / 85 / 30
With excellent Special Attack, one of the lowest Speed stats around, and Magic Guard, Reuniclus is likely to be one of the best offensive threats around! Outslowing most Pokémon without even needing a Macho Brace, Reuniclus is free to use a Life Orb to boost its attacks to even greater power, without even incurring recoil thanks to its ability. An offensive Calm Mind set will destroy faster Pokemon that lack the ability to take its hits, while a defensive Calm Mind set will really tear into stall teams. Honestly, Reuniclus might be a little bit too good, but it's worth testing it out before we make any hasty bans.
Ferrothorn
74 / 94 / 131 / 54 / 116 / 20
On the other end of the spectrum is Ferrothorn, who retains his defensive utility from the OU metagame, but can now move first against almost anything, even when using Leftovers or a Rocky Helmet. While Thunder Wave and Gyro Ball are much less useful in this metagame due to everything wanting to be slow, this just lets Ferrothorn run moves it doesn't normally have room for, such as Stealth Rock and Protect. Ferrothorn can also go on the offensive more easily now, with both Curse and Swords Dance as boosting options, and plenty of space to use them.
Snorlax
160 / 110 / 65 / 65 / 110 / 30
While Reuniclus is the best representative of special offense in the tier, Snorlax is arguably the best example of physical offense. With Base 30 Speed being slower than almost the entire tier, alongside fantastic special bulk and solid attacking power, Snorlax can be both an excellent tank and a deadly sweeper. Curse makes it as efficient a tank as you're going to get, while Belly Drum allows Snorlax to threaten a turn 1 sweep if the opponent is unprepared for it. Meanwhile, Return, Earthquake, and Fire Punch have unresisted coverage together and let Snorlax break through the majority of Pokémon with enough boosts.
Conkeldurr
105 / 140 / 95 / 55 / 65 / 45
While somewhat overlooked in OU, Conkeldurr is set to sweep the metagame with its low Speed becoming an advantage. It has almost unique access to STAB Hammer Arm, which lets it lower its Speed as it attacks, becoming more and more dangerous as its rampage continues. Furthermore, a powerful Mach Punch makes Conkeldurr a good last resort against Belly Drum Snorlax, while Drain Punch provides it with solid recovery. Both Iron Fist and Guts are excellent ability choices.
Skarmory
65 / 80 / 140 / 40 / 70 / 70
The vast majority of threats in this metagame appear to be physical, outside of Reuniclus, so having a "Sturdy" physical defender seems like a great asset for any team. With Base 65 Speed, Skarmory is faster than a lot of the offensive Pokémon in this metagame, meaning it will usually Roost after the opponent attacks, thus not exposing itself to Earthquakes. Ferrothorn is completely walled, as is Escavalier, with both being phased out with Whirlwind. Unfortunately Skarmory fails to hit many Pokémon hard in this metagame outside of Breloom and the frailer Grass and Fighting types, so Rocky Helmet might be a good item choice for ensuring passive damage. With so much of the metagame being blocked, Skarmory will find plenty of opportunities to Roost, mitigating the loss of Leftovers.
Cofagrigus
58 / 50 / 145 / 95 / 105 / 30
As stated earlier, Snorlax is going to absolutely ridiculous to deal with. While Cofagrigus can also be quite scary with a bulky Nasty Plot set, a defensive set with Will O Wisp allows you to drop Belly Drum sets out of action in 3-5 turns depending on residual damage. Cofagrigus can Burn most physical attackers before they get a chance to strike back, in a similar way to Sableye in OU, making it a pretty good offensive response to physical boosters as well, with a Nasty Plot / Shadow Ball / HP Fighting / Will O Wisp set. Likewise, it can actually use Haze to stop boosters outright, if it has a defensive EV spread.
Quagsire
95 / 85 / 85 / 65 / 65 / 35
With Curse and Belly Drum being ridiculously good on some Pokémon (Snorlax!), Quagsire is a stalwart response to any physical boosters outside of Ferrothorn and the odd offensive Breloom. With Recover, Toxic, and Earthquake and Scald to massacre a lot of common Curse users, Quagsire is equipped to deal with the worst of them.
------------
That's basically all I have to say at the moment; have at it! Slowmons is NOW PLAYABLE on Joim's server. I can't wait to see the discussion that comes from such a quirky metagame! Here's the inaugural battle, and some speed tiers.
http://www.pokemonshowdown.com/replay/joimslab-slowmons-4786
Good luck guys!
- Priority still works as it always does: For example, Extremespeed Dragonite will still go before Reuniclus despite being faster, and thus normally going second.
- If the actual move Trick Room is used, then the fastest Pokémon will be able to go first for Trick Room's duration. For example, Alakazam would use Trick Room, and outspeed Conkeldurr on the following turn.
- The faster weather starter will start weather for its respective team. For example, Ninetales' Drought would cancel out Hippowdon's Sand Stream in a Turn 1 matchup.
- Lagging Tail and Stall will still make their users move last in all circumstances.
- All Pokémon must be lv100 to participate. Otherwise the speed creep would be absolutely absurd.
------------
Other than the slowest Pokémon moving first, and Trick Room working slightly differently, this metagame is exactly the same as standard competitive battling. Obviously, with Speed roles being reversed, some moves and abilities will become more/less viable. Here's some good examples of things you might expect (or not!) to see on the battlefield!
- Macho Brace now provides any Pokémon that holds it with a huge drop in Speed without any other drawbacks! This basically makes it a better Choice Scarf, without the Choice.
- Paralysed Pokémon will almost always be able to move before healthy ones due to the decrease in Speed, so you probably shouldn't be using Thunder Wave
- Chlorophyll and similar abilities are obviously no longer helpful.
- Curse now acts similarly to a physical Quiver Dance for non-Ghost types. Have fun!
- Hammer Arm and V-Create make your Pokémon able to move first against more opponents, making them REALLY good moves.
- Since you're aiming to be slower than your opponents, you can now invest those EVs from Speed in other places!
------------
Due to increased Speed no longer being desirable, the following Pokémon are now unbanned for this metagame.
- Blaziken
- Excadrill
Pokémon such as Darkrai and Shaymin-S aren't going to be unbanned yet... but once this metagame kicks off, we can test them and see if they're still worthy Ubers in this slowness-orientated metagame! If you ask me, I reckon that Darkrai, Deoxys, Genesect, Shaymin-S, Thundurus-I, and Tornadus-T, wouldn't be broken in this metagame, but it'd be worth testing the metagame without them first to be rigorous.
------------
Here's some predictions from me about Pokémon that I think will be highly successful in this metagame! As discussion develops, I'll form a threat list here and keep it updated. I imagine it'd be pretty easy (and very useful!) to come up with Speed tiers for this metagame, so I'll work on them if this really starts to take off.
- Reuniclus
- Ferrothorn
- Escavalier
- Amoonguss
- Slowking
- Steelix
- Quagsire
- Spiritomb
- Cofagrigus
- Slowbro
- Snorlax
- Bronzong
- Shuckle
- Trapinch
- Gigalith
- Parasect
- Sunflora
- Carracosta
- Gastrodon
- Rhyperior
- Azumarill
- Cradily
- Camerupt
- Conkeldurr
- Druddigon
- Aggron
- Tangrowth
- Hippowdon
- Golurk
- Exeggutor
- Jellicent
- Tyranitar
- Abomasnow
- Swampert
- Umbreon
- Hitmontop
- Blissey
- Emboar
- Skarmory
- Breloom
- Politoed
- Heatran
- Dragonite
Reuniclus
110 / 65 / 75 / 125 / 85 / 30
With excellent Special Attack, one of the lowest Speed stats around, and Magic Guard, Reuniclus is likely to be one of the best offensive threats around! Outslowing most Pokémon without even needing a Macho Brace, Reuniclus is free to use a Life Orb to boost its attacks to even greater power, without even incurring recoil thanks to its ability. An offensive Calm Mind set will destroy faster Pokemon that lack the ability to take its hits, while a defensive Calm Mind set will really tear into stall teams. Honestly, Reuniclus might be a little bit too good, but it's worth testing it out before we make any hasty bans.
Ferrothorn
74 / 94 / 131 / 54 / 116 / 20
On the other end of the spectrum is Ferrothorn, who retains his defensive utility from the OU metagame, but can now move first against almost anything, even when using Leftovers or a Rocky Helmet. While Thunder Wave and Gyro Ball are much less useful in this metagame due to everything wanting to be slow, this just lets Ferrothorn run moves it doesn't normally have room for, such as Stealth Rock and Protect. Ferrothorn can also go on the offensive more easily now, with both Curse and Swords Dance as boosting options, and plenty of space to use them.
Snorlax
160 / 110 / 65 / 65 / 110 / 30
While Reuniclus is the best representative of special offense in the tier, Snorlax is arguably the best example of physical offense. With Base 30 Speed being slower than almost the entire tier, alongside fantastic special bulk and solid attacking power, Snorlax can be both an excellent tank and a deadly sweeper. Curse makes it as efficient a tank as you're going to get, while Belly Drum allows Snorlax to threaten a turn 1 sweep if the opponent is unprepared for it. Meanwhile, Return, Earthquake, and Fire Punch have unresisted coverage together and let Snorlax break through the majority of Pokémon with enough boosts.
Conkeldurr
105 / 140 / 95 / 55 / 65 / 45
While somewhat overlooked in OU, Conkeldurr is set to sweep the metagame with its low Speed becoming an advantage. It has almost unique access to STAB Hammer Arm, which lets it lower its Speed as it attacks, becoming more and more dangerous as its rampage continues. Furthermore, a powerful Mach Punch makes Conkeldurr a good last resort against Belly Drum Snorlax, while Drain Punch provides it with solid recovery. Both Iron Fist and Guts are excellent ability choices.
Skarmory
65 / 80 / 140 / 40 / 70 / 70
The vast majority of threats in this metagame appear to be physical, outside of Reuniclus, so having a "Sturdy" physical defender seems like a great asset for any team. With Base 65 Speed, Skarmory is faster than a lot of the offensive Pokémon in this metagame, meaning it will usually Roost after the opponent attacks, thus not exposing itself to Earthquakes. Ferrothorn is completely walled, as is Escavalier, with both being phased out with Whirlwind. Unfortunately Skarmory fails to hit many Pokémon hard in this metagame outside of Breloom and the frailer Grass and Fighting types, so Rocky Helmet might be a good item choice for ensuring passive damage. With so much of the metagame being blocked, Skarmory will find plenty of opportunities to Roost, mitigating the loss of Leftovers.
Cofagrigus
58 / 50 / 145 / 95 / 105 / 30
As stated earlier, Snorlax is going to absolutely ridiculous to deal with. While Cofagrigus can also be quite scary with a bulky Nasty Plot set, a defensive set with Will O Wisp allows you to drop Belly Drum sets out of action in 3-5 turns depending on residual damage. Cofagrigus can Burn most physical attackers before they get a chance to strike back, in a similar way to Sableye in OU, making it a pretty good offensive response to physical boosters as well, with a Nasty Plot / Shadow Ball / HP Fighting / Will O Wisp set. Likewise, it can actually use Haze to stop boosters outright, if it has a defensive EV spread.
Quagsire
95 / 85 / 85 / 65 / 65 / 35
With Curse and Belly Drum being ridiculously good on some Pokémon (Snorlax!), Quagsire is a stalwart response to any physical boosters outside of Ferrothorn and the odd offensive Breloom. With Recover, Toxic, and Earthquake and Scald to massacre a lot of common Curse users, Quagsire is equipped to deal with the worst of them.
------------
That's basically all I have to say at the moment; have at it! Slowmons is NOW PLAYABLE on Joim's server. I can't wait to see the discussion that comes from such a quirky metagame! Here's the inaugural battle, and some speed tiers.
http://www.pokemonshowdown.com/replay/joimslab-slowmons-4786
BS / Item / Minimum Value
10 (MB) 11
20 (MB) 20
10 (--) 22
30 (MB) 29
40 (MB) 38
20 (--) 40
50 (MB) 47
60 (MB) 56
30 (--) 58
70 (MB) 65
80 (MB) 74
40 (--) 76
90 (MB) 83
100 (MB) 92
50 (--) 94
110 (MB) 101
120 (MB) 110
60 (--) 112
130 (MB) 119
70 (--) 130
80 (--) 148
90 (--) 166
100 (--) 184
110 (--) 202
120 (--) 220
130 (--) 238
10 (MB) 11
20 (MB) 20
10 (--) 22
30 (MB) 29
40 (MB) 38
20 (--) 40
50 (MB) 47
60 (MB) 56
30 (--) 58
70 (MB) 65
80 (MB) 74
40 (--) 76
90 (MB) 83
100 (MB) 92
50 (--) 94
110 (MB) 101
120 (MB) 110
60 (--) 112
130 (MB) 119
70 (--) 130
80 (--) 148
90 (--) 166
100 (--) 184
110 (--) 202
120 (--) 220
130 (--) 238
Good luck guys!