Fallen Legends: Why These Pokemon Are Now RU
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Art by tiki.
Every generation introduces power creep, and Pokémon Sword and Shield has continued this tradition with significant help from its DLC expansions. The removal of Z-Moves and Mega Evolutions has negatively affected the viability of many Pokémon, causing some to return to lower tiers for the first time in a decade (or ever!). This effect isn't just in one direction; many Pokémon gained viability from the loss of these Z-Moves and, more significantly, from the addition of Heavy-Duty Boots, which has had a huge impact on the metagame. However, this article will focus on some of the biggest downward shifts in viability that occurred in Generation 8, specifically looking at some OverUsed or UnderUsed staples that have fallen to RarelyUsed in Generation 8 (and including a bonus feature on a much-hyped Generation 8 Pokémon that also fell to RarelyUsed). I will describe the reasons they fell out of favor in higher tiers and also provide a summary of their role in RarelyUsed so that you all can test them out in their new home!
For months, Zeraora dominated Sword and Shield UnderUsed; its Speed tier let it outspeed the entire unboosted metagame and find plenty of opportunities to threaten Pokémon out. Knock Off let it wear down its own checks, Blaze Kick provided coverage for the tier's popular Regenerator Grass-types, and it had plenty of versatility between all-out attacker, Bulk Up, and even special sets. However, Zeraora rose to OverUsed by usage, leaving a tremendous gap. Would Xurkitree rise up to fill this vacancy?
No, it would not. Without Hidden Power, Xurkitree has no way to hit Tangrowth and Amoonguss super effectively, and their Regenerator shuts down Xurkitree all game long. By contrast, the Thundurus formes can threaten them with Knock Off, U-turn, Psychic, and Sludge Wave; just to rub it in, they even have Nasty Plot and a much better Speed tier. Without Tail Glow, which was removed from the game in Generation 8, Xurkitree is simply outclassed as a wallbreaker. Xurkitree's lower Speed is the final nail in its coffin, leaving it outsped by common foes that resist its STAB attacks such as Kommo-o, the Rotom formes, and Krookodile; this makes the Thundurus formes and Raikou far more appealing options. And thus, a Legendary Pokémon with an eye-popping base 173 Special Attack would fall all the way to the RarelyUsed tier after having been banned from UU in the previous generation.
In RU, however, Xurkitree is a monster. It stands out due to its amazing Special Attack and ability to threaten nearly all foes that resist Electric; the tier's Ground-types fold to Energy Ball, and Dazzling Gleam scares off Zarude, the most common Grass-type. With Heavy-Duty Boots it can more easily stay at full health, letting it take one attack from faster threats like Zarude and Noivern and KO them back. Xurkitree also finds plenty of opportunities to switch in due to the frequent presence of Togekiss; once Xurkitree gets in, teams are forced to desperately pivot around its coverage moves and usually end up sacking something. Alternatively, Xurkitree can put on a Choice Scarf and threaten to sweep weakened teams, though this is impeded by the fact that most other Choice Scarf users, like Mienshao, Zarude, and Heracross, outspeed it. It may be shocking to see the Ultra Beast Xurkitree in RarelyUsed, but it sure makes the most out of being there!
Suicune not only is one of the game's most aesthetically appealing legendary Pokémon, it also is one of its most infamous and storied sweepers, tearing through ADV OU, DPP OU, and ORAS UU with a wide variety of sets. From the classic defensive Rest, Sleep Talk, Calm Mind, and Surf set to offensive Calm Mind + 3 Attack sets to utility moves like Roar and Protect, Suicune has proven itself able to adapt to decades of metagame changes. However, this generation saw it fall to the new low of the RarelyUsed tier. What happened to this legendary dog?
In SS UU, Suicune finds few opportunities to set up and is annoyed by the existence of a counter in Heavy-Duty Boots Zarude, which can avoid Scald burns and reliably force it out. It also struggles with its reliance on Rest and Sleep Talk for recovery, which means it needs good Sleep Talk rolls to avoid being repeatedly forced out. Primarina is a very strong competitior for Suicune's role; its Fairy typing gives it many opportunities to switch in and set up on threats such as Keldeo and Noivern, and its new access to Draining Kiss gives it recovery without needing to rely on RestTalk. Calm Mind Galarian Slowbro also gives Suicune competition for the late-game sweeper role; unlike Suicune's difficulties against Zarude, the set of Calm Mind, Sludge Bomb, Scald, and Slack Off has no common counters, and Slack Off helps it avoid being too passive. Suicune is not completely unviable, but there is little reason to use it over these threats, especially Primarina, so it was relegated to RarelyUsed.
In what will soon become a common refrain, Heavy-Duty Boots Zarude is the bane of Suicune's existence in SS RU. Its Jungle Healing allows it to cure itself of Scald burns, forcing Suicune to run Ice Beam if it wants to make any progress against it. The prevalence of Water-immune Pokémon—Gastrodon, Seismitoad, and Volcanion are all quite common—also forces it to move away from its mono-attack sets of the past. Although a set of Substitute, Calm Mind, Scald, and Ice Beam has some potential, it struggles to find opportunities to switch in due to its lack of recovery. The prevalence of Electric-types and Grass-types also does Suicune no favors. Although its towering reputation leads it to receive significant use on the RU ladder, tournament players treat Suicune with contempt; in 149 games of the RU Premier League, the tier's most popular team tournament, Suicune was used only once. After decades of consistent success, Suicune's viability in Sword and Shield RarelyUsed might be the lowest it has ever been.
Spikes stacking hyper offense dominated SM UU, and Mimikyu was the smiling face of it; it found its way onto almost any hyper offensive team, joining forces with the omnipresent Scizor to sweep through almost everything but stall and giving those teams a safety net against threats like Latias and Mega Sharpedo. However, Generation 8 gave Mimikyu two major nerfs. First, its ability Disguise became less good; it now loses 1/8th of its HP when Disguise is broken, making it harder for it to stay healthy enough to take one attack or complete its sweep. Secondly, Spikes stacking hyper offense became far less effective; when multiple Pokémon on each team are now immune to entry hazards due to Heavy-Duty Boots, sacrificing a Pokémon to set up entry hazards is rarely worth it. Heavy-Duty Boots enables checks to Mimikyu to revenge kill it multiple times without losing HP, preventing it from getting the chip damage that it needs to sweep.
After receiving these nerfs, Mimikyu fell to RarelyUsed. In RU, its mortal enemy is Heavy-Duty Boots Zarude, which can OHKO it with Power Whip after its Disguise is broken, takes under 10% damage from Shadow Sneak, and can break Disguise with U-turn if necessary. Heavy-Duty Boots make it immune to the Spikes (and Stealth Rock) that helped Mimikyu be such an effective sweeper last generation; offensive teams try to make up for this by weakening Zarude with a Psychic-type like Heat Wave or X-Scissor Necrozma, a Water-type such as Sharpedo or Knock Off Seismitoad, or a double Ghost core with Polteageist. Mimikyu remains a threat to teams without Heavy-Duty Boots Zarude, and cleverly constructed Mimikyu teams can find success against even those teams. However, it is by no means the inevitable sweeper that it was in Generation 7 UU; if you want to win with Mimikyu, you really have to work for it!
Togekiss has long been an UnderUsed staple, causing an untold number of rage quits after taking down entire teams through flinches in BW and SM alike. On the surface, the changes of Generation 8 would make its Choice Scarf set from SM UU even stronger; with no Z-Moves or Mega Evolutions, nothing can block Trick, and Scarf Air Slash is as scary for offensive teams as ever. The loss of Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Manectric would also seem to do nothing but help it.
Although it found success in OverUsed before some of the DLC dropped, Togekiss ultimately failed to make the cut for Sword and Shield UnderUsed. Zeraora ruined any hope Togekiss had of finding a role in the tier; it was on a massive number of teams, was immune to Thunder Wave, and reliably gained momentum for itself by forcing Togekiss out. This is why it dropped. Even after Zeraora has left, however, Salamence gives it great competition as an offensive Flying-type; its Hurricane and Draco Meteor hit extremely hard, it checks a vast population of the tier with its Intimidate, typing, and speed, and it can even surprise opponents expecting a strong special attacker with Dragon Dance sets. Togekiss lacks a secondary STAB attack like Draco Meteor, so Salamence checks such as Rhyperior and Nihilego (which can also no longer be Pursuit trapped) shut down Togekiss even harder. The rise of the Thundurus formes and Raikou to fill the void left by Zeraora also puts pressure on Togekiss, even if they are not as ubiquitous as Zeraora once was. Togekiss retains a slight niche as a defensive check to threats such as Salamence and Krookodile and a sweeper that can break through slower teams with Nasty Plot, but teams are generally well equipped to handle it.
In RarelyUsed, however, Togekiss has been magnificent. It is at worst a top-3 Pokémon in the tier, and many consider it to be the very best. Unlike in UnderUsed, few defensive Pokémon in RarelyUsed can outspeed Togekiss. Thus, Nasty Plot sets can defeat nearly the entire tier, forcing one of Heavy-Duty Boots Xurkitree and Raikou onto most teams in order to not immediately fold to its combination of Air Slash and Flamethrower. It can also perform defensive roles successfully, supporting teammates with Wish, Heal Bell, or Defog while checking dangerous threats like Zarude, Noivern, and Mienshao, which are among the metagame's most relevant offensive Pokémon. Togekiss is dominant in the RarelyUsed tier, and any team that does not account for it heavily is simply not a good team. It seems to have fallen a great deal from its debut in Generation 4 OverUsed, but Togekiss has never been more successful or threatening than it is in Sword and Shield RarelyUsed.
If a DPP or BW player were told about Regidrago—a Pokémon with a signature move stronger than Draco Meteor and an ability that boosts its Dragon-type attacks' power by an additional 50%—they would probably pass out. Sadly, Fairy-types were introduced since then, and this seemingly intimidating new legendary fell flat in higher tiers due to its utter inability to damage the Fairy-types immune to its strong STAB attacks.
In RU, Regidrago still struggles to stand out (except when you sort by HP stat in the teambuilder); Noivern is simply a far better Dragon-type due to its ability to fit on nearly any playstyle and fulfill multiple roles. Regidrago finds a slight niche through its Dragon Dance set, which fits best on teams with Reflect and Light Screen support. Thunder Fang can threaten the tier's most common Fairy, Togekiss, and since Togekiss doesn't run a Fairy-type attack, Regidrago can often set up multiple times against it. Even then, however, it is still too slow and lacking in coverage to be a threat. It requires two boosts to outspeed common Choice Scarf users like Mienshao and Zarude, giving the opponent two chances to weaken it, and even a boosted Regidrago struggles against common physical walls like Diancie and Rhyperior. However, with enough turns of Reflect and Light Screen support, it could muscle its way through those walls and most of the tier's Steel-types.
Even this small niche, however, was reduced when the RU Council voted to ban Light Clay, reducing the number of possible turns of Reflect and Light Screen from 8 to 5. It has found a tiny sliver of hope on Sticky Web teams, where it can theoretically wallbreak for Linoone to sweep, but strategies like this struggle to be consistent without screens support in a tier full of strong attackers. Despite its scary attributes on paper, Regidrago seems likely to fall even further. Regidrago doesn't have much to be proud of in its debut generation... but at least it ended up in a higher tier than its siblings Regirock, Regice, and Regigigas. As anyone with siblings can attest to, that's plenty to be proud of.
Final Thoughts
Although some of these former staples of higher tiers, most notably as Togekiss and Xurkitree, have found tremendous success in the RarelyUsed tier, Suicune and Mimikyu's struggles show that past viability does not always translate to the present. However, all are worth trying (even Regidrago!), and I encourage any interested readers to take them for a spin in RarelyUsed.
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