Where's the Beef: Buffing Old Pokémon in Sun and Moon

The Attack boost given to Dugtrio in Sun and Moon allows it to become a better partner to Pokémon that appreciate its trapping capabilities such as Genesect and Pheromosa. While it still lacks any sort of bulk, as 35 / 50 / 70 is way below average, it now has a better offensive presence to complement its exemplary base 120 Speed. It can more easily take advantage of its decent coverage to get rid of the opponent's answers to certain teammates, making it a good choice for offensive support.

While this may not affect the higher tiers, Dodrio gaining 10 in base Speed and access to Jump Kick and Swords Dance allow it to be a major threat in lower tiers. Being a sort of poor man's Staraptor (although the Speed boost makes it faster, and it has Swords Dance, whereas Staraptor has a better ability, higher Attack, and Close Combat), Dodrio can be a menace in lower tiers thanks to its great STAB, coverage, and great setup moves, as well as having above average base 110 Attack and Speed. That being said, its 60 / 70 / 60 bulk is very underwhelming, as any strong neutral hit will KO Dodrio with ease.

While Sudowoodo has never stood out in the competitive scene, it finally gained a STAB move that works with its Rock Head ability. With Sun and Moon giving it Head Smash, Sudowoodo can now hit very hard while still having a decent coverage move in Wood Hammer. Overall, this doesn't change too much, since it is still slow and can't really circumvent its lack of bulk and Speed; it is just a neat little buff that allows Sudowoodo to further use its only "good" ability.

Mantine gaining Roost in Sun and Moon was one of the first "OMG" moments of the new buffs. The fact that Mantine now has access to reliable recovery allows it be a very amazing wall and lets it use its very good defensive typing and new and improved 85 / 70 / 140 bulk to become a powerful special tank that can also cripple physical attackers with Scald, which grants it the ability to be a continuous nuisance to the opponent. Roost alongside the +20 in base HP means that Mantine can now contend in higher tiers and carve itself a niche with ease. Mantine's buff has also had an innate effect in OU, as most Pokémon that Mantine wall are carrying Electric coverage more often than not just to be able to take care of it.

Swellow gaining a boost to its Special Attack allows the Choice Specs set it used in ORAS lower tiers to become even more threatening, as it can now power through a lot more with Scrappy Boomburst. While it did gain Hurricane, it only gained it as an egg move, meaning that Swellow is forced to choose between Heat Wave, an ORAS tutor move, and it; however, Heat Wave is normally the better option to nail Steel-types. However, this still leaves it walled by Rock-types, forcing it to U-turn out on them. The blazing base 125 Speed and now decent mixed offenses means it could potentially even run a mixed set with its good physical and special movepool, allowing it to surprise its potential would-be checks and counters. It also means that it outspeeds Tornadus-T, which allows it to be a potentially viable option in OU on strictly offensive teams.

Pelipper becomes the premier rain setter in OU, as it has access to a very powerful STAB move in Hurricane, which doesn't miss under rain, and it has reliable recovery in Roost, unlike its counterpart Politoed, which lacks the ability to keep itself healthy to consistently set up rain. Furthermore, Pelipper has access to U-turn, allowing it to pivot very easily into a lot of rain threats such as Kingdra, Kabutops, and Ludicolo and help them to make the most of the seven rain turns Pelipper offers. Electric-types such as Tapu Koko, Thundurus, and Xurkitree also appreciate being paired with Pelipper due to them having 100% accurate Thunders, allowing them to wallbreak more easily. Pelipper having this newly unique combination of reliable recovery, powerful STAB moves, and a pivoting move as a rain setter means it doesn't miss out on losing Leftovers for Damp Rock (unlike Politoed), as it doesn't get worn down as easily. Finally, Pelipper also got a +10 Special Attack boost, allowing it to hit harder than Politoed, especially considering its secondary STAB.

Sadly, Pelipper still has its faults. This niche in OU means it will definitely be essential on rain teams, but rain itself isn't as powerful as it was back in BW when weather was permanent. For this reason, Pelipper is bound to end up in lower tiers where Drizzle tends to be banned, meaning it will probably not change too much from its current roles as a defensive Defogger that is able to threaten and pivot around entry hazard setters.

While Torkoal may not make as big of a splash as Pelipper with it gaining a weather setting ability, it does still have a niche in higher tiers, as currently, the only non-Mega Drought sun setter is Ninetales, which isn't as tanky as Torkoal. Torkoal also has more utility than Ninetales, as it has access to Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock, allowing sun teams to have entry hazard control and support if necessary. Due to it having Drought, it becomes a really neat addition in VGC, as it can fit on sun teams and Trick Room teams that appreciate the sun support. That being said, if Drought is still banned in lower tiers, nothing will really change for it, especially since it didn't get a stat buff like Pelipper.

One word describes this buff: FINALLY! Flygon getting Dragon Dance allows it to capitalize on its excellent offensive typing to boost its average base 100 Attack and Speed. Ground and Dragon has excellent neutral coverage, and Flygon being able to boost its physical prowess means it no longer has to rely on being Choice Banded to hit hard and can have more flexibility in its range of sets. While this doesn't directly benefit special sets, special sets will now have a bit of surprise value due to Dragon Dance popularizing physical sets. Sadly, this doesn't mean it will rise up to OU standards, as it just can't compete with Landorus-T and Garchomp due to their unique niches within the tier and overall superior stats (despite Garchomp lacking Dragon Dance).

The unofficial Moon legendary got a buff in Sun and Moon. With a +20 base HP increase and access to a special Rock-type STAB move not named Ancient Power in Power Gem, Lunatone can become a pretty powerful Pokémon in lower tiers. With the ability to boost its Special Attack via Calm Mind, Levitate, and a decent enough typing, it can now use its somewhat unique movepool to make its offensive sets shine, unlike last generation.

While the unofficial Sun legendary didn't get the same treatment as Lunatone move-wise, it did still get the +20 boost in HP. This allows Solrock to be a better wall in the lower tiers and use its typing with decent resistances to wall quite a lot of Normal- and Fire-types that tend to be very prominent. Flare Blitz does allow Solrock to hit non-Poison-type Grass-types hard, effectively giving it a good coverage move if it so chooses to use it.

Ah, Bibarel. What was once such a simple Pokémon has grown to become a potentially powerful threat in lower tiers. Gaining access to Swords Dance and Aqua Jet allows it to have a more spammable STAB priority move (Quick Attack is meh) while being able to boost a lot faster than most setup sweepers due to its ability Simple. While it still has below-average bulk and not the greatest stats in general, Bibarel can still be a major threat with great STAB coverage offensively and the ability to circumvent its average Speed stat with priority.

Gaining access to Will-O-Wisp allows Froslass to finally be able to cripple physical attackers while being able to still set up Spikes and block Rapid Spin via its Ghost typing. While this doesn't change a lot about how Froslass plays, it does give it another utility move to use over, say, Thunder Wave, which has been nerfed this generation to 90% accuracy and paralysis only halves the Pokémon's Speed rather than cutting it to just one-fourth. Froslass can now also invest in HP and Speed to better tank physical moves after burning a physical attacker to help it get up more Spikes layers before it switches out or faints.

Gigalith gaining access to Sand Stream finally gives it a niche in competitive play. Before, it was outclassed most of the time by other Rock-types such as Probopass and Golem, but now it is able to set up sand with ease and gain a Special Defense boost (unlike Hippopotas). While this may mean it does "rise from the ashes" of PU, it certainly allows sand teams to be very viable in lower tiers. It also has naturally good physical bulk, meaning it becomes somewhat hard to take down under Sand as well. Furthermore, it has a great base 135 Attack stat, which means it is no slouch offensively either. Adding on to that, with Drought and Drizzle normally being banned in lower tiers, Gigalith can be a more appealing option for sand teams as it can set the weather without having to waste a moveslot.

Vanilluxe is another lower tier Pokémon that gained access to a weather setting ability a la Torkoal, Gigalith, and Pelipper. Normally, Hail is considered the worst weather; however, this generation brought about an ability called Slush Rush, which allows any Pokémon to double their Speed under Hail. This means Ice spam cores such as Vanilluxe + Beartic can be a powerful force. Vanilluxe gaining Snow Warning also gives it the ability to spam the more powerful Blizzard over Ice Beam with no accuracy check, giving it a very solid STAB move to use. Sadly, Vanilluxe lacks the coverage or utility of the other weather setters, such as Abomasnow, which sports a secondary STAB to hit more types with, which can potentially leave it sitting in NU or PU once the Sun and Moon metagames have settled.

Beartic was one of the few Pokémon to gain more than one buff in the generation shift. It got a +20 Attack stat boost as well as a new ability: Slush Rush. This allows Beartic to do well on hail and rain teams, since it can double its Speed in either weather. While base 50 Speed isn't much to work with, it has decent 95 / 80 / 80 bulk for a sweeper, as well as a staggering new base 130 Attack stat, which can be further bolstered by Swords Dance. Beartic also has access to really neat coverage moves such as Superpower, Play Rough, and so on, allowing it to customize itself for any weather-based team it may be on. That being said, it has a horrible typing defensively, meaning it can't really take advantage of its decent bulk while not having a secondary STAB, and leaving its coverage moves lacking slightly in power.

While Diancie lost its ability to Mega Evolve due to its stone, Diancite, being unreleased, it did finally gain a special Rock STAB move in Power Gem. This means that specially based sets and Calm Mind sets are possible now, as Diancie doesn't have to rely on Diamond Storm as its main Rock-type STAB move. While not too big, Diamond Storm does give a +2 Defense boost now rather than a +1 boost, meaning it has a lot of promise on sets that want to have mixed options such as defensive sets or offensive sets (once its Mega Stone is released).