The Gen VI Hub Index Welcome to the Gen VI hub!This hub has material relating to the latest installment of Pokémon—XY and ORAS. Announcements will be posted semi-frequently with news on the latest developments in the ORAS metagames, from Ubers down to NU. Feraligatr Quickbanned from RUPosted by atomicllamas on March 13, 2015The RU council has decided to quickban Feraligatr from RU. The reasoning is below: Gaining Sheer Force gave Feraligatr three crucial boons that resulted in its ban: the ability to hit tremendously hard straight off the bat, have the capability to run Dragon Dance and even Specially Based-attacker sets to limit its pool of checks, and accentuate the power of its already fearsome Swords Dance sets. Between its above average bulk and pure Water typing, Feraligatr found many opportunities to set up all the while being incredibly difficult to revenge kill once it got going. This significant increase in power made Feraligatr very difficult to check and nearly impossible to counter outside of a select few defensive Pokemon, especially when it employs the use of Substitute, and outside of Choice Scarf Rotom-C, very few if any Choice Scarf users have the capability to revenge kill it. In the end, the addition of Sheer Force made Feraligatr, an already good RU Pokemon, too powerful and versatile for the RU metagame to handle. Metagrossite Remains OUFollowing the suspect test held for Mega Metagross, it was decided that since Mega Metagross didn't receive the supermajority vote required to be banned from OU, it should remain in the Overused tier for the foreseeable future. A detailed vote analysis is featured below. Number of eligible voters: 335 Pangoro and Moltres Banned from RUFollowing the suspect test held for Pangoro and Moltres, it was decided by supermajority and majority, respectively, that both would be banned from RU to UU. A detailed vote analysis is featured below. Pangoro: Steelixite, Heliolisk, Feraligatr, and Serperior Banned from NUFollowing the suspect test held for Mega Steelix and Heliolisk, it was decided by supermajority vote that both Steelixite and Heliolisk would be banned from NU to RU. A detailed vote analysis is featured below. Steelixite: Furthermore, as of recent legalization of Contrary Serperior and Sheer Force Feraligatr, the NU council decided that both should be quickbanned from the tier for a multitude of reasons. Below are detailed explanations of the reasoning behind the quickbans.
Kangaskhanite Quick-Banned & Updates to Endless Battle ClausePosted by Jukain on December 27, 2013Following Gengarite, Kangaskhanite has been quick-banned from XY and Pokébank OU. From the official statement of the OU Council: As we all know, Kangaskhan received a huge buff in X/Y with its Mega Stone. Its attack got pumped to a respectable base 125, its defenses were also improved, and its speed reached the above-average 100 base tier. The most valuable improvement it received though, was its new ability: Parental Bond. It allows the Pokémon to attack twice, with the second attack being half as powerful as the first one. Basically, Parental Bond acts like a free Choice Band boost, but without locking the user into one single attack. Also, Mega-Kangaskhan's new ability works wonderfully with attacks such as Power Up Punch (allowing Mega Kangaskhan to usually get 2 Attack boosts) and Seismic-Toss (which always inflicts a damage of 200 Hit Points to the opponent). Not to mention the ability to hit the opponent through their Substitute. Couple the above mentioned points with a close to perfect physical movepool (with access to coverage moves such as Fire Punch, Crunch and Earthquake) and priority in the form of Sucker Punch, and you have a Pokémon that's nearly impossible to counter or even revenge kill. With these buffs, the raw power of its attacks, limits on teambuilding, and versatility (it can also run an effective Wish / Protect / Seismic Toss / Crunch defensive set), Mega Kangaskhan was deemed broken. The full announcement can be read here. On a different note, Endless Battle Clause has been updated to include two new combinations. These are Leppa Berry + Recycle + Pain Split and Leppa Berry + Recycle + Fling. The former works almost identically to the first banned combination, using Pain Split to heal the opponent instead of a recovery move. It is available to Mew. The latter can only be used against defensive Pokémon that are unable to do much damage. Flinging a Leppa Berry increases the opponent's PP—it can be done infinitely with the help of Recycle whilst the user simply recovers back its health. Again, if you know of any strategies not yet banned under Endless Battle Clause, please report them to a tiering leader or a Smogon Mentor. The goal of this clause is to make sure the game is fair for everyone. Endless Battle ClausePosted by Jukain on December 18, 2013As per the decision of the Smogon tiering leaders, a new clause call the Endless Battle Clause will be put into effect in all official Smogon tiers, as noted here. The goal of the clause is to ensure that strategies able to create an endless game—one that only ends when the opponent's Pokémon have all been PP stalled or he or she forfeits. Currently, this clause only encompasses the use of Leppa Berry, Recycle, Heal Pulse, Block/Mean Look/Spider Web, and a healing move (such as Recover or Softboiled) in the same moveset. This is how it works (writing provided by Hugendugen): Fortunately only Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking, Blissey, and Smeargle are legally able to use this combination (Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir and Gallade as well if you count Wish). To use the strategy, one of these will switch into a defensive Pokémon, or one unable to 2hko them, use Block and then PP stall the opponent with recovery and Leppa Berry + Recycle. Once the opponent begins to Struggle, the user can simply continue to Heal Pulse, with Leppa Berry + Recycle, until the opponent forfeits. This clause for now specifically blocks this strategy, but any strategies determined to have the ability to cause an indefinite battle will be banned under this clause in the future. If you find any such strategies, please report them to a tiering leader! If you don't feel comfortable doing that, contact a Smogon Mentor and he or she will definitely address your concern. Gengarite is being Considered for a QuickbanPosted by Jukain on November 21, 2013Gengarite, which enables Gengar to transform into Mega Gengar, is currently up for discussion on the forums as a reference point for the OU Council to decide whether it will be given a quickban. Like in the cases of Blaziken and Deoxys-N, the Council, which consists of Aldaron, Haunter, M Dragon, McMeghan, and Nachos, would vote on whether or not to ban Gengarite. A simple majority (3/5) would secure a stress-free, simple ban. The Council has opened a discussion here where you can get your voice heard. If you would like to help sway the view of the Council in this controversial vote, then post! Gengarite is under quickban consideration primarily because of its ability, Shadow Tag, which traps the opposing Pokémon in. This can have highly disurptive effects, allowing teammates troubled by certain walls to sweep due to their removal. The topic of debate is primarily whether this disruption is so significant that it is unhealthy for OU. Points of contention include the scope of its trapping abilities and limitations, which are the deciding factors in whether it should be quickbanned or not. Calls to wait for suspect testing proper have also been made. If you want to view high-quality discussion with points from both sides, check out this discussion in the Policy Review forum. In here, discussion is limited to badgeholders and select other members, so you can get the best possible perspective on the debate. In any case, no matter your views, share them and perhaps bring a few others over to your side! Little Cup ProjectsPosted by Jukain on November 18, 2013The Little Cup XY forum has been open for a few weeks and numerous projects already dot the forum. These projects cover numerous aspects of the tier. Get on the forums and participate in them!
These projects provide a small glimpse into the many great things going on in the XY LC forum right now. Check it out here! Expert players post there on a regular basis; you will learn more there about the tier than almost anywhere else. XY Battle Mechanics: 11/17/13Posted by JukainMany developments have occurred in the research forum over the past few days. Get the latest scoop on game mechanics right here!
Check back throughout the coming days for the latest in XY research! Blaziken and Deoxys-N Quick-Banned from XY and PokéBank OU.Posted by Jukain on November 13, 2013The OU council has concluded that Blaziken and Deoxys-N, two Pokémon allowed initially in XY, will be quick-banned from both current XY OU and PokéBank OU. This means that there will be no public vote; the council has simply decided that this is necessary. Both have been preeminent threats since XY's inception, and are detrimental to the balance of the tier. Blaziken is simply a monster sweeper. Its power is unparalleled, being virtually impossible to counter or even check if the player lacks a Talonflame or Azumarill on his or her offensive team. Defensive teams can opt for Slowbro, defensive Gyrados, or in PokéBank Jellicent, but these Pokémon just are not cut out for any other team in this metagame. With the addition of Baton Pass to its movepool and thus the ability to passed the boost it gains from Swords Dance and Speed Boost, it can pass to a teammate that could handle it. Deoxys-N is also way too powerful for OU to handle. Its dual 150 offenses in addition to Speed give it plenty of power to work with, and a devastating STAB Psycho Boost as well as a list of coverage moves that goes on for days make it virtually impossible to handle with any Pokémon—conventional or not. Deoxys-N was so obviously broken that there were some people who did not even realize it had been excluded from the initial banlist in the first place. It was not a Pokémon OU could adequately deal with in any way. Therefore, it was banned. Actual suspect tests will likely not begin until PokéBank OU is released, so these will probably be the last bans until that time. Stay tuned for the latest XY! XY Battle Mechanics: 11/17/13Posted by JukainMany developments have occurred in the research forum over the past few days. Get the latest scoop on game mechanics right here!
Check back throughout the coming days for the latest in XY research! Little Cup ProjectsPosted by Jukain on November 18, 2013The Little Cup XY forum has been open for a few weeks and numerous projects already dot the forum. These projects cover numerous aspects of the tier. Get on the forums and participate in them!
These projects provide a small glimpse into the many great things going on in the XY LC forum right now. Check it out here! Expert players post there on a regular basis; you will learn more there about the tier than almost anywhere else. |