The History of RBY ZU

By gastlies. Released:2024/10/03

Art by uppa.

Introduction

Despite the original Pokémon games approaching their 30th birthday, RBY ZU is a fairly new tier, with its first ever iteration formed on July 24, 2022, after PU's first ever Viability Rankings were released. Despite the tier's young age, it has gone through several changes, with Pokémon leaving and joining the tier due to PU's Viability Ranking updates as well as Pokémon being banned and unbanned. Some Pokémon have had their viability drastically change during their time in ZU, either as a response to a drop or ban, or simply as players began discovering their true value.

RBY ZU is a very unique tier compared to both other RBY tiers and other old generations of ZU. While GSC and ADV ZU are ruled by unevolved Pokémon such as Magby, Ponyta, and Graveler as well as bad single-stage Pokémon such as Aipom, RBY ZU has always had fully evolved Pokémon such as Arbok, Pidgeot, Primeape, Scyther, Magmar, and Sandslash ruling the scene. One of RBY's most popular stereotypes is that Psychic-types are quite good. As a result, most of them are in higher tiers. ZU has only ever had Slowpoke and Abra, two very mediocre Pokémon. This makes ZU very unique as an RBY tier due to a near-complete lack one of the generation's most iconic typings.

Jul 24, 2022 - Feb 17, 2023: The Gastly + Arbok era

RBY PU released its first Viability Rankings in July of 2022. The tier was extremely young at the time with no tournaments played yet, so the Viability Rankings were extremely speculative. Four players who played the tier ranked every viable Pokémon in one of five ranks—S, A, B, C, or D—and the most common rank ended up being the final rank for the VR. Any Pokémon whose final ranking was "C" or lower would be legal in the first iteration of ZU. Due to a general lack of metagame development at this time, these Viability Rankings are very distinct from modern ones, and as a result, this version of ZU is quite different from the one that's played today. If you take a look ZU's initial speculative Viability Rankings, you will notice that they are extremely different from the current rankings.

Gastly This was the only period in ZU's history that had Gastly legal. Nowadays, Gastly is a top PU Pokémon, and there has been some discussion of banning it. It also has a chance at rising to NU, so it will likely never be in ZU again. It should be no surprise, then, that Gastly was one of the two most dominant Pokémon during its time in ZU. The tier had zero legal Psychic-types, meaning there was no STAB Psychic to hit Gastly, and Gastly's own Psychic was impossible to resist. Psychic in conjunction with Thunderbolt hit tons of top-tier Pokémon, such as Arbok, Pidgeot, Primeape, Scyther, and opposing Gastly super effectively. Gastly's base 80 Speed was also quite fast for the tier; Scyther, Pidgeot, and Primeape, three of the few Pokémon that outsped it, had to rely weak or unreliable moves such as Wing Attack, Sky Attack, and non-STAB Rock Slide to deal damage. On top of all of this, Gastly had Hypnosis, allowing it to take advantage of RBY's powerful sleep mechanics to bail out of tough matchups. Gastly was never officially banned from the tier, as it quickly rose to PU, but if it stuck around, it is nearly certain it would have ended up ZUBL.

The other member of the broken dyad was Arbok. Arbok Just like Gastly, Arbok benefitted from the lack of Psychic-types and its base 80 Speed being fast for ZU standards. Arbok took full advantage of Wrap, a move that prevents the foe from attacking if Arbok is faster. Normally, the best way to deal with Wrap is to outspeed and paralyze the Wrap user, but in RBY ZU, the good Pokémon that outsped Arbok had no reliable way to paralyze it. In order to outspeed and paralyze Arbok, you would have to use Voltorb or Pikachu, both of which were extremely weak, even by ZU standards. Arbok itself had a means to paralyze foes with Glare, allowing it to paralyze then use Wrap on faster Pokémon.

Perhaps the worst part of the Gastly + Arbok era was how these two Pokémon interacted with each other. They tied at base 80 Speed, and Arbok had a 66.7% chance to OHKO Gastly with Earthquake, while Gastly always 2HKOed it with Psychic. This made the interaction between the two top Pokémon extremely RNG dependent. Which one will win the Speed tie? Will Arbok OHKO Gastly with Earthquake? Will Gastly get a critical hit with Psychic or land Hypnosis? It is very possible for one of the two Pokémon to win the interaction completely unharmed just because luck went its way, removing the skill aspect from a lot of matches.

Diglett With the centralization around these two Pokémon, the rest of the meta focused on Pokémon that had good matchups against them. The aforementioned fast trio—Pidgeot, Primeape, and Scyther—were all great due to them outspeeding Arbok and Gastly, though they had no way of spreading paralysis and only had weak moves to hit Gastly. Onix was a great counter to Pidgeot and Scyther, enabling Arbok and Gastly. Flareon's great stats—giving it the highest base stat total in ZU—and neutrality to Psychic and Thunderbolt made it one of the only Pokémon capable of withstanding Gastly's onslaught. Marowak could also take Gastly's hits decently and had Earthquake to OHKO it and 2HKO Arbok. Since both of these Pokémon were slower, they had to watch out for Wrap and Hypnosis. Diglett did not have this issue, and as a result, it had an important role in this tier. Diglett outsped both Gastly and Arbok, and it OHKOed the former and 2HKOed the latter. Despite its extreme frailty, it was favored to survive Arbok's Hyper Beam as well. Although this meta was unfun, Diglett being not only viable but in fact a top Pokémon was one of the funniest things to come out of it. Parasect was a good check to Diglett thanks to its bulk and could threaten Spore. However, it matched up poorly against Fire-types and had no way to do meaningful damage to Gastly. Overall, the centralization around Arbok and Gastly and the coinflippy nature of both Pokémon made this tier very unenjoyable, and it needed some drastic change. However, due to PU's first VR being very speculative, a lot of things changed with the next VR update.

Feb 17, 2023 - March 4, 2023: The Arcanine + Sandslash Era

Rises to PU: Gastly

Drops to ZU: Arcanine, Magmar, Sandslash, Electrode, Slowpoke, Poliwag, Vileplume

Following the conclusion of the first RBY PU tournament, new Viability Rankings were created, and they were drastically different from the first. People had a much better grasp on the meta, and more players submitted rankings, allowing a wider range of opinions. Gastly was the only Pokémon that rose to PU, while a whopping seven Pokémon dropped. Out of these seven, two stood out among the rest: Arcanine and Sandslash.

Arcanine is perhaps the most absurd Pokémon to ever drop to ZU, and just like Gastly, it will likely never return. At the time, Fire-types were looked down upon in PU due to Omanyte, and Rapidash was seen as a better Fire-type due to outspeeding Fearow. Nowadays, Omanyte has fallen off, and the playerbase values Arcanine's bulk over Rapidash's Speed, resulting in Arcanine being a top PU Pokémon with near 100% usage. It is also a popular lead in NU with a good chance to rise to the tier. Down in ZU, it was immediately required on every single serious team and warped the entire meta around it. At first, Arcanine did not seem broken. The Arcanine on each team generally traded hits, with the winning Arcanine likely being at low HP and paralyzed by Body Slam. However, players began using Reflect + Rest on Arcanine, allowing the winning Arcanine to fully heal and making Arcanine in general extremely hard to KO due to the tier's low power level. Unlike PU, which had fantastic Water-types such as Seaking and Staryu as well as generally stronger Pokémon such as Nidoqueen and Fearow, Arcanine's Rest was extremely hard to punish in ZU. Slowpoke had low Special, and the playerbase hadn't realized how good Tentacool was quite yet.

Sandslash was also dominant during this time. Swords Dance and Earthquake + Rock Slide coverage made it a very effective setup sweeper, and its bulk along with a lack of notable weaknesses allowed it to set up Swords Dance fairly safely. Swords Dance would also bypass the Attack drop from burn. Sandslash became truly absurd when Arcanine began to run Rest, as it was the easiest setup opportunity in the world. This dynamic created a lose-lose scenario for both players: run Rest Arcanine and give the opponent's Sandslash free setup, or don't run Rest Arcanine and get slowly worn down by the opponent's Rest Arcanine. Sandslash also matched up well against the other drops to ZU, such as Magmar, Electrode, and Slowpoke, as well as ZU's older Pokémon, such as Pidgeot and Scyther.

Magmar and Slowpoke also fit into the meta very well. They were not as broken as Arcanine and Sandslash, but they were still strong Pokémon. Magmar was seen as a secondary, weaker Arcanine, but considering how dominant Arcanine was, being a second Arcanine was still very good. Slowpoke was more anti-meta, as it had a great matchup against Magmar and Arcanine, being able to set up Amnesia while the latter was using Rest. Poliwag was decent thanks to its Water typing as well, but it was slower than Magmar and Arcanine, and its frailty compared to Slowpoke generally made it a worse option. It did have some nice traits though; it was the fastest sleeper in the tier and could also set up Amnesia on sleeping foes, but Hypnosis's shaky accuracy made it very high-risk high-reward. Vileplume and Electrode struggled a lot more to fit in; Vileplume was extremely vulnerable to the Fire-types and was largely outclassed by Parasect due to the latter's Sandslash matchup, while Electrode gave Sandslash free entry and setup.

Most of the Pokémon that remained excellent in the Arbok + Gastly meta were quite decent here as well. Arbok itself was nowhere near as oppressive, since Arcanine and Magmar outsped it and threatened status, but it was still a good Pokémon. Scyther was still a great physical attacker, having the rare trait of being faster than the Fire-types. Pidgeot and Primeape were still viable but had fallen off due to the Fire-types. Parasect improved tremendously, as it was one of the best punishes to Sandslash in the tier. However, there were two massive losers in this new meta: Marowak and Flareon. Marowak was entirely outclassed by Sandslash, as its worse stats and lack of Swords Dance made it a far weaker choice, while the introduction of Arcanine and Magmar, two much better Fire-types, made Flareon obsolete. Gastly rising to PU and less necessity for an Arbok answer also killed Diglett's niche in the tier, and it would never see viability in ZU again.

Overall, Arcanine and Sandslash were considered far too dominant and oppressive for ZU's power level. The top eight placers of the most recent ZU tournament voted on whether or not to have them banned. Slowpoke and Poliwag were also considered, but almost nobody supported a ban. Arcanine was banned with a 5-2 vote and Sandslash with a 6-2 vote, leading us to the next era.

March 4, 2023 - December 12, 2023: The Magmar + Scyther Era

Bans to ZUBL: Arcanine, Sandslash

Rises to NU: Electrode (April 9, 2023)

Following the bans of Arcanine and Sandslash, RBY ZU was in one of the best states the tier has been in. Electrode rose to NU shortly after the bans, skipping PU altogether, so three Pokémon effectively left the tier. While Electrode was in the tier, it was very good, since it was the only Pokémon that outsped Scyther, and Sandslash was no longer around, though Marowak and Onix were still a pain.

Magmar Following Arcanine's ban, Magmar took its place as the best Fire-type and perhaps the best Pokémon overall. It had almost the same offensive stats as Arcanine, giving it plenty of power, but it lacked the defensive utility that made Arcanine broken. Magmar did have some tools of its own that Arcanine lacked, though. Kabuto saw some fringe use as a hard counter to Arcanine when it was around, but Magmar had the coverage to blast right past it. Magmar's other big tool over Arcanine was Confuse Ray. As the third-fastest viable Pokémon in the tier, behind Scyther and Primeape, it was able to outspeed the foe and confuse it, making Magmar a pain to deal with.

Scyther had been in ZU since the tier's inception, but it had finally reached its time in the spotlight. Scyther It used to have problems facing Gastly, and once Gastly left, Arcanine dropped to give it trouble. With both of these Pokémon gone, Scyther was finally able to be used at its full potential. Although Magmar was still in the tier, Scyther outsped it and a +2 Hyper Beam;—a move Arcanine easily survived;—was heavily favored to OHKO Magmar. Additionally, the departure of Electrode made Scyther the fastest Pokémon in the tier. Scyther's gameplan was simple: set up Swords Dance and start shredding the opposing team with Hyper Beam, and it was able to easily find setup on Pokémon such as Pidgeot and Primeape, surviving even a 4x super effective Rock Slide. Even if it didn't set up Swords Dance, its Slash was a force to be reckoned with.

Even with Arcanine gone, Slowpoke was still a very important Pokémon due to its matchup against the fast offensive threats. It resisted Magmar's STAB Fire Blast and had Thunder Wave to ruin it, Scyther, Primeape, and Pidgeot. Arbok was still a fantastic Pokémon; the departures of Arcanine, Sandslash, and Electrode were all great for it, since two of them were faster and Sandslash had a super effective STAB Earthquake. However, Arbok was still not as oppressive as the first ZU meta due to Scyther, Magmar, Pidgeot, and Primeape outspeeding it and keeping it in check. Sandslash's ban resulted in Vileplume replacing Parasect as the prominent sleeper, since Parasect's 4x resistance to Ground was no longer as valuable, while Vileplume actually had a better Marowak matchup than Parasect, since Marowak carried Fire Blast. Marowak and Flareon were viable once again, with Marowak returning as the prominent Ground-type, while Flareon could be a useful partner to Magmar. Although Scyther was generally seen as the premier physical attacker, Pidgeot and Primeape were still fantastic Pokémon and great partners to it. Onix was still a good pick due to how it walled Pidgeot and Scyther.

December 12, 2023 - April 2, 2024: The Arbok + Pidgeot Era

Rises to PU: Arcanine (From ZUBL), Magmar, Scyther, Vileplume

Drops to ZU: Sandslash (From ZUBL), Abra

After RBYPL IV, PU released new Viability Rankings. As a result, Magmar, Scyther, and Vileplume rose to PU, and Arcanine rose from ZUBL. The only Pokémon that dropped to ZU was Abra, but Sandslash was also unbanned, since the playerbase thought it might not be broken in this new environment. ZUBL would thus be empty... for now.

Arbok With Magmar and Scyther leaving, Arbok had come to dominate the tier once again. Pokémon faster than it—Arcanine, Electrode, Magmar, and Scyther—had been slowly leaving the tier one by one, meaning it was once again very difficult to outspeed the snake. Abra was quickly discovered to be quite bad in the tier, so the only two top Pokémon that outsped it were Pidgeot and Primeape. Arbok was able to paralyze these Pokémon with Glare, and Pidgeot had to resort to using the extremely weak Quick Attack to hit Arbok. Ponyta was also used during this time exclusively to have another Pokémon that outsped Arbok. Arbok's presence also made the tier extremely RNG-dependent. Glare's 75% accuracy and Wrap's 85% accuracy made its entire strategy luck-based. The best way to deal with Arbok was using your own Arbok to trade hits using Earthquake, getting both Arbok into OHKO range of Pidgeot's Hyper Beam and likely Primeape's. However, if one Arbok won the Speed tie and landed a critical hit OHKO, it would have a massive advantage, usually requiring the sacrifice of multiple Pokémon to finish it off.

Pidgeot had always been great in ZU but was never in the spotlight. Pidgeot Gastly was around to wall it in the tier's early days, and once Gastly left, Scyther largely outclassed Pidgeot. Now, with Scyther gone, Pidgeot became the best Pokémon in the tier, even surpassing Arbok. It was one of the few Pokémon that outsped Arbok, and it hit really hard too—Normal-type STAB moves coming off of a base 80 Attack stat is very good for ZU's low power level. Pidgeot was also bulkier than Scyther; it had higher Special bulk, and its lack of a Bug typing gave it less weaknesses. Pidgeot was also the second-fastest viable Pokémon in the tier behind Primeape. It is rare to find a Pokémon that is strong, bulky, and fast, but Pidgeot had all three traits relative to ZU's power level, making it a fantastic Pokémon.

Flareon Sandslash turned out to be less broken this time around. It was still great, but it couldn't find opportunities to set up Swords Dance, and it started to drop the move in favor of Slash to bypass Pidgeot's Reflect and ease prediction. Surprisingly, Marowak was still viable despite Sandslash being unbanned. Marowak's lack of Swords Dance was less relevant now that Sandslash seldom used it, and Marowak's access to Counter, Fire Blast, and Blizzard gave it unique tools against Pokémon such as Pidgeot, Primeape, Sandslash, and Parasect. Primeape was still excellent in this tier. It was one of the few Pokémon that outsped Arbok and was the only viable Pokémon that outsped Pidgeot. Parasect returned as the dominant sleeper with Vileplume rising to PU and Sandslash getting unbanned, but this time, Butterfree was around as a faster alternative, though it was OHKOed by Rock Slide from Sandslash and Primeape. Magmar's departure made Flareon the best Fire-type again and one of the best Pokémon in the tier. Despite Scyther rising to PU, Onix was still a good Pokémon due to Pidgeot's newfound dominance.

This new meta also resulted in some new Pokémon finding viability in the tier. As mentioned before, Ponyta was one of the few Pokémon that outsped Arbok, and it could threaten it with both Body Slam paralysis and a Fire Blast burn. Perhaps the most interesting Pokémon to come out of this meta was Tentacool. Sandslash, Parasect, Marowak, and Flareon were some of the most common Pokémon in the tier, and they were all weak against Tentacool. It was not uncommon for teams to use both Marowak and Sandslash in order to have the bulk to take on Arbok and use Earthquake on Wrap misses; though, Tentacool's Hydro Pump OHKOed the Ground-types. Slowpoke had also fallen off a ton due to Magmar rising to PU, so there was a lack of bulky Water-types to safely switch into Tentacool's Surf + Blizzard combination. Although Tentacool had been theorized in previous metas, it really came to shine here. Abra was initially hyped up when it dropped, but it really struggled due to being outsped and OHKOed by Pidgeot and Primeape, and it wasn't powerful enough to break through bulkier Pokémon such as Flareon and the Ground-types. However, it was able to outspeed and paralyze Arbok, and it also scared away Tentacool, so it did have a niche. Poliwag also found a niche due to having the rare trait of outspeeding Arbok. Rhyhorn was also used as an Onix alternative, as it had much better damage output; though, Onix was still generally seen as better.

Overall, Arbok was considered far too oppressive for the tier, and despite being in the tier since its inception, it was ultimately suspect tested. The top players in the most recent individual and team tournaments at the time voted 12-5 in favor of banning Arbok. After sticking around in the tier for almost two years, Arbok was finally banished to ZUBL.

April 2, 2024 - Present: The Post-Arbok Era

Bans to ZUBL: Arbok

Now we reach present-day ZU. The meta is largely the same as the previous one, just without Arbok. Pidgeot is still the top dog, and Primeape, Flareon, Sandslash, and Parasect are all fantastic Pokémon. Tentacool still exists to bully the slower Pokémon, and Onix is still walling Pidgeot. The biggest losers of this ban were the Pokémon that found a niche due to the Arbok matchup. Ponyta has been displaced entirely by Charmeleon, which is slower but has a much better movepool, notably having Slash and Counter, which give it better matchups against Pidgeot and Flareon. It also has odds to survive Sandslash's Earthquake and always survives Marowak's. Abra is now extremely rare, as its ability to outspeed and paralyze Arbok, one of its most useful traits, is now redundant. It still synergizes well with Ground-types, as they check physical attackers, while Abra checks Tentacool. Overall, the tier is very fun right now and is in the best state it's been since the Scyther + Magmar era, but changes are on the horizon.

Potential Tiering Changes

There are many possible Pokémon that could either rise to PU or drop to ZU, some of which will drastically change the tier. The most likely Pokémon to rise is Magneton, which isn't that great in ZU due to Sandslash, Marowak, and Onix, so its departure won't affect the meta that much. The drops to ZU will be more impactful, though. Pinsir, Omanyte, and Machamp are all considered bad in the current PU meta and have a strong chance at dropping to ZU in the next PU Viability Rankings update. Omanyte will be a good alternative to Onix. Despite being slightly less physically bulky and lacking Explosion, it is much stronger and does not give Ground-types free entry. It also walls Flareon thanks to its 4x Fire resistance, special bulk, and not minding burn, since it's a special attacker. However, Omanyte's lower Speed will leave it more vulnerable to Pokémon such as Tentacool and Weezing. Pinsir has a very strong chance of being oppressive. It's a Swords Dance user similar to Scyther, but its traits are arguably better for a ZU environment. It is faster than every relevant Pokémon except for Pidgeot and Primeape, and it has Submission to break through the Rock-types that walled Scyther. It is also stronger than Scyther, OHKOing Primeape and Flareon with +2 Hyper Beam. Machamp will likely be a great physical tank similar to the Ground-types. Its typing doesn't have any super notable weaknesses or resistances, so it will probably just be a solid damage dealer.

There are other Pokémon that could drop to ZU but are less likely to. Dragonair and Vileplume both have solid places in PU at the moment, but they are more fringe picks compared to the rest of the tier. Vileplume will face heavy competition from Parasect and Butterfree. The former has a 100% accurate sleep-inducing move, which makes it more reliable at sleeping foes like Sandslash, while the latter has a better Speed tier that outpaces Sandslash and Flareon. However, Vileplume does have the best Primeape matchup out of the three due to its neutrality to Rock Slide. Dragonair has a very strong chance of being an Arbok 2.0 due to its access to Thunder Wave and Wrap, and it also has Agility to make Wrap even more obscene. Dragonair and Arbok also have a very similar stat distribution, so there is a strong chance Dragonair could join Arbok in ZUBL. Two broken Wrap users, however, would allow the ZU playerbase to suspect the move rather than individual Pokémon, meaning this could also end up in a Wrap ban in ZU, letting Dragonair and Arbok into the tier without their most broken move. It should be noted, though, that Gastly has a chance at being banned from PU or rising to NU, and either of these happening will increase the viability of Vileplume and Dragonair in PU, making them less likely to drop. Graveler is currently great in PU, but that's largely due to the Fearow matchup. However, Fearow is currently also fantastic in NU. If Fearow rises, Graveler still has a role in checking Scyther, but it is less important and could drop to ZU, where it will act as a better Onix, though it will have the same Speed issues that Omanyte would.

There has been recent discussion on banning Wrap or Confuse Ray throughout RBY's lower tiers. A Confuse Ray ban will almost certainly send Magmar to ZU. It will still be a fantastic Pokémon, but losing Confuse Ray will make it much less annoying to deal with. If Wrap is banned, Dragonair will likely drop to ZU, but this time without Wrap. It will probably be decent, but definitely healthier. A set of Agility + Thunder Wave + two attacks makes it a great cleaner and paralysis spreader. A Wrap ban will also let ZU unban Arbok, since Wrap was the reason why it was banworthy in the first place. Wrap-less Arbok would suffer quite a bit. It still has good Speed, a way to spread paralysis, and good offensive coverage, but its lack of STAB moves will give it power issues.

Conclusion

Despite the tier's young age, RBY ZU has gone through a lot of changes. Different Pokémon have dominated at different times, from Gastly, to Arcanine, to Magmar, to Arbok, to Pidgeot. Some Pokémon, such as Pidgeot and Primeape, have been key ZU Pokémon throughout the tier's history. Some, like Arcanine and Gastly, terrorized the tier for a short period of time before leaving. Others, like Scyther and Arbok, spent a long time in the tier as a huge meta threat but eventually departed. There are even Pokémon like Diglett and Tentacool that have only been viable in one meta that was suited just for them. The tier's history is far from over, too. It is bound to change sometime in the near future, and the introduction and departure of key Pokémon will catapult it into a new era.

If you've found this article interesting and want to give RBY ZU a try, there are plenty of ways you can get started. The RBY ZU Hub is a great resource hub with Viability Rankings, sample teams, and general metagame discussion. Due to the rapidly evolving metagame, analyses have not yet begun, but every viable Pokémon has a sample set on the Smogdex. ZU also has its own channel on the RBY Discord Server. It is also currently being integrated in the RBY Lower Tiers Circuit and a tournament is currently underway!

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