« Previous Article | Next Article » |
Art by Iyarito .
What does it mean to be a Normal-type? Stereotypically, Normal-types are usually found early in-game and have generic designs, wide movepools, and lower base stat totals than other Pokémon types. Several of these Normal-types have declined in competitive usage over the years, while some have just arrived, but collectively they finally have found a chance to shine in ZU. These Normal-types take on a variety of roles and have all impacted the metagame, some more than others. Today, we'll look at what makes some Normal-types in ZU unique and standout.
|
In October 2018, the ZeroUsed meta saw its most significant shift yet. With its former best Pokémon in Rotom-F leaving along with Ninetales and Lurantis while a whole bunch of powerful new threats started roaming around, the meta had been completely tossed on its head. One of these new threats was Komala, which for a long time teetered around the usage cutoff before finally finding its way into ZU. While it used to suffer heavily in PU with only its Assault Vest set being viable, it now found itself as one of the most versatile Pokémon in the meta and was commonly seen as the second best Pokémon in the tier. Comatose was the driving force behind Komala's viability, which worked with its tremendous versatility to heavily pressure defensive teams. Most notable was its Choice Band set, which utilized its base 115 Attack and coverage moves like Earthquake, Knock Off, and U-turn to easily break apart most defensive cores in the metagame, with only Gourgeist-XL and Avalugg functioning as consistent switch-ins to it. Its bulky set used its solid special bulk and access to Wish to keep it healthy while offering crucial support with moves like Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Toxic, and U-turn. The Assault Vest set functions as a quite powerful Rapid Spin user with access to a pivoting move in U-turn while being quite bulky too. Other, more niche sets include a specially defensive Bulk Up set that, while more susceptible to phazing than Vigoroth, doesn't rely on Taunt to avoid getting induced with status and easily sets up on more passive foes such as Altaria and Bronzor. Komala also has a Swords Dance + Grassium Z set that doubles down on Komala's strength against stall, breaking through almost every Pokémon on the archetype on its own including Pyukumuku, although it exacerbates Komala's poor matchup against more offensively inclined teams due to its lack of immediate power. All in all, Komala has made a huge splash in ZU and has a lot of potential in the future too.
|
Bouffalant has always been an interesting option in ZU, although now it suffers from the inclusion of Gourgeist-XL and Komala. Gourgeist-XL stops most of Bouffalant's sets cold, and Komala gives it stiff competition for a teamslot while simultaneously pushing teams to use Gourgeist-XL. Unfortunately for Bouffalant, Bronzor is also a significant part of the metagame because of its great synergy with Pokémon such as Altaria, further limiting Bouffalant's effectiveness, although it can break through Bronzor after a couple of Swords Dance boosts. Bouffalant's Assault Vest set suffers from competition from Komala and Kecleon and only differentiates itself through Pursuit and its immunity to either Grass or sound-based moves like Boomburst or Parting Shot. Bouffalant is also notable for being able to directly switch into Abomasnow, something most other Normal-types fear doing. Bouffalant's Choice Band set also competes with the faster, stronger, and status-immune Komala and can only differentiate itself in the same ways as the Assault Vest set, while its Substitute + Swords Dance set also loses to Gourgeist-XL, which has high usage because of its ability to counter offensive Komala sets and the majority of other physically offensive Normal-types such as Kecleon and Raticate. Lastly, Bouffalant's two attacks + Substitute + Toxic set is outclassed by Regigigas, with a well-played Regigigas being able to dismantle stall teams not carrying Muk on its own entirely due to its better overall bulk, access to Knock Off, and ability to stall out Slow Start to become immensely powerful after five turns. Bouffalant's only way to shine currently would be to utilize a mono-attacker set with Substitute, Swords Dance, and Toxic, which unfortunately may not be the most effective option against offensive threats.
|
After Pokémon such as Altaria, Pyukumuku, and Gourgeist-XL arrived as a part of the October 2018 drops, Vigoroth rose back in viability to take on the massive influx of bulkier playstyles seeing use on the ladder and in high-level tournament play. Taunt sets were able to stop Pokémon such as Bronzor, Altaria, and the previously mentioned Pyukumuku from inducing status, recovering health, and removing entry hazards or force them into Struggle. Substitute variants of Vigoroth were also effective against offensive teams, making use of its high Special Defense investment in tandem with Eviolite to create setup opportunities against common special attackers such as Silvally-Dragon, Zebstrika, and Choice Scarf Oricorio. Vigoroth also appreciated the rise of Swanna, Gourgeist-XL, and Altaria as new defensive checks to Fighting-types such as Monferno and Silvally-Fighting, which previously made setting up with Vigoroth quite tricky. Lastly, Rotom-F and Lurantis exiting ZU removed the most common Trick and Contrary users, which could either incapacitate or remove Vigoroth from play. The rise of Pokémon such as Switcheroo Floatzel and Choice Specs Abomasnow tried to fill in these roles, but they were nowhere near as easy to fit on teams as Rotom-F and Lurantis, and the decrease usage of Mareanie and Toxic Spikes was also impactful.
|
Purugly carves a niche as a Defog deterrent with its stellar base 112 Speed and access to an assortment of useful moves such as Fake Out, Knock Off, Sucker Punch, and U-turn. Every time it comes in, Purugly forces the opponent to think twice before commanding Pokémon such as Silvally-Water, Altaria, Shiftry, and Oricorio-E to blow away any entry hazards on the field. With its newfound access to Stomping Tantrum, Purugly also finally has a way of getting around Rock- and Steel-types that used to wall it completely like Probopass, though its lack of power leaves it unable to break through Pokémon such as physically defensive Golem. Purugly is also a fantastic countermeasure to Sticky Web teams, as it gets a free Defiant boost whenever it switches into that entry hazard. However, Purugly's niche is not very valuable in the current metagame, because it's fairly weak without a Defiant boost and its Speed tier isn't all that great anymore with Floatzel around. In addition, because Purugly has such a hard time breaking through Pokémon such as physically defensive Golem and Gourgeist-XL, Pawniard usually acts as a better Defog deterrent. Regardless, its ability and Speed give it a very real niche, and it sees use on hazard stacking teams.
|
This booming bird bursts into the ZU tier with access to the extremely powerful STAB Boomburst, which gives Chatot the ability to run various sets to take advantage of it and be a fierce wallbreaker. Great coverage in Heat Wave and a Hidden Power of choice, usually Fighting, Grass, or Water, allows it to hit things that resist Boomburst, like Golem, Probopass, and other Steel-types like Metang. Despite not having a powerful Flying-type attack, Chatot makes up for it in great support options like Nasty Plot and Encore, which allow it to run a quite viable boosting set. However, the most used Chatot sets utilize either use a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs to patch up Chatot's slightly below average stats, which makes it more prediction reliant than most other Normal-types. Furthermore, Z-Encore or Choice Scarf Chatot fails to outspeed Choice Scarf Electivire, the most prominent Choice Scarf user. Chatot still is music to ZU players' ears though, and its continuous impact will be a never-ending crescendo.
|
Noctowl is an underutilized threat that can punch holes into unprepared teams. The combination of Choice Specs and Tinted Lens mean that even Pokémon that resist Flying don't like switching in, allowing Noctowl to 2HKO would-be Flying checks like Golem with Hurricane and take out others like Bronzor and Probopass with either Heat Wave or Hidden Power Ground. Noctowl's Double Dance set is just as scary. It can survive most special hits, allowing it to get Speed boosts with Agility and outspeed threats such as Choice Scarf Electivire and other base 95 Speed Pokémon and use Supersonic Skystrike to knock them out. However, Choice Specs Noctowl isn't particularly fast for a wallbreaker, and Double Dance Noctowl usually doesn't have many opportunities to set up with both Work Up and Agility. Nevertheless, Noctowl is an absolute hoot, and we hope you owl would agree!
|
Toucannon is one of the best wallbreakers in the metagame, able to break down defensive cores such as Golem + Altaria with ease. However, it suffers from the surplus of faster threats in the metagame that can either knock it out or severely limit its effectiveness, such as Electivire, Floatzel, and Komala. Floatzel, in particular, will outspeed Toucannon even if it utilizes a Choice Scarf. Despite this, a well-played Toucannon excels at wallbreaking and has no safe switch-ins. Its incredibly powerful Brave Bird will allow it to 2HKO even the bulkiest of walls that do not resist it. Steel- and Rock-types such as Bronzor, Golem, and Probopass fear the combination of Bullet Seed, Knock Off, and Brick Break. Notably, Skill Link Toucannon can use Bullet Seed to break through Golem's Sturdy and threaten numerous defensive Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon such as Carbink and Stunfisk. Toucannon could also forgo either Brick Break or Knock Off and use U-turn to pair with a trapper to trap and remove Bronzor or Probopass. Toucannon is also able to effectively utilized a mixed attacking set with special attacks such as Boomburst and Heat Wave, although this set is less adept at taking advantage of Toucannon's STAB power. Toucannon could even run a dedicated special set with Sheer Force and Flash Cannon while still carrying U-turn, although such a set would face heavy competition from other special attacking Flying-types such as Swanna.
|
Despite being inferior to its other formes as a Defog user, Silvally's base forme surpasses every other one in sheer flexibility. The ability to carry an item other than a Memory and the STAB it has on Normal-type attacks allows regular Silvally to take on a number of sets that its other forms are incapable of. One role Silvally's base forme can take on is a supporting pivot with Darkinium Z, allowing it to both buy momentum for its team and threaten a number of attackers through its vast repertoire of attacking options while getting its partners in safely through Parting Shot and even healing one of its partners with Z-Parting Shot. Silvally can also break teams with a Swords Dance-boosted Z-Explosion and Double-Edge, although this set suffers from Gourgeist-XL's immense popularity. Z-Heal Block enables Silvally to run a potent stallbreaker set, taking advantage of typical switch-ins such as Gourgeist-XL and Golem while denying recovery from Pokémon such as Lickilicky, Pyukumuku, and Altaria. Silvally can also revenge kill offensive Pokémon and sweep late-game through the use of Choice Scarf in order to take advantage of fast STAB Double-Edge and gain momentum through U-turn, and it also holds the capability to sacrifice itself when needed for its STAB Explosion to do huge damage while possibly breaking a bulky foe and gaining momentum for its teammates. There are even more other options available to Silvally's base forme, such as Assault Vest, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Life Orb, and other various Z-Crystals that allow Silvally to become even more versatile.
|
Smeargle is known for being capable of learning almost every move in the game. At first glance, this may suggest that Smeargle is one of the most versatile Pokémon in ZU, capable of utilizing a massive array of coverage and utility options to provide whatever its team may desire. Unfortunately, its low stats mean that it is ill fit for most roles. Instead, it is relegated to the role of suicide lead for hyper offensive teams. Specifically, its access to great sleeping moves in Spore and Lovely Kiss, amazing hazards like Sticky Web and Stealth Rock, and great utility moves for leads like Nuzzle and Magic Coat means that it fulfills the role excellently. Unfortunately for Smeargle, ZU has another Pokémon with access to both Stealth Rock and Sticky Web that currently performs better as a lead due to its better bulk, Shuckle. Most notable is the rising prominence of Taunt, which cripples Smeargle and gives it even more competition with Mental Herb Shuckle. Of course, Smeargle has plenty of optional moves it can carry too, like Taunt, Rapid Spin, Spikes, Glare, Encore, Toxic Thread, Parting Shot, the list goes on, but they'll usually be minor changes to its main suicide lead set. Make no mistake though (because they are happy accidents), the Painter Pokémon certainly has found its niche in the ZU metagame and will continue to shape the way people think about hazard-setting leads.
|
Raticate has the ability to use a Guts + Flame Orb set to take advantage of a powerful Facade at the cost of another boosting item and the chip damage after every turn. These sets can also run Swords Dance for additional boosting to break through physically defensive walls such as Tangela, although pivoting with U-turn is quite nice. However, Raticate generally prefers the immediate power of Choice Band and Hustle over trying to set up with Swords Dance, acting as strong breaker and a decent Pursuit trapper. Shadow Claw nails Colbur Berry users such as Gourgeist-XL and Dusknoir. Raticate's Speed is extremely nice, allowing it to beat the extremely common Silvally and Electivire as well as many other Pokémon. Despite having good Attack, Speed, and abilities, Raticate tends to fall short of expectations, as its bulk is mediocre at best and it is easily revenge killed by faster threats. Choice Scarf users and priority will still cause issues for Raticate, but it has serious potential in this metagame.
|
Once one of the more popular options on bulky offense due to its great special bulk, fantastic movepool, and near-exclusive access to the ability Protean, Kecleon has been recently considered outclassed by the newly received Komala as a bulky attacker due to the latter's higher Attack stat and immunity to status. However, Kecleon has some great traits associated with Protean, including access to 3 priority moves in Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and Shadow Sneak. Kecleon can also run mixed sets featuring Ice Beam or Fire Blast that can help it muscle through some of its typical physically defensive checks like Gourgeist-XL, Altaria, Mawile, and Gabite. Kecleon's great Special Defense stat allows it to reliably check most special attackers in the tier when equipped with an Assault Vest, and its STAB on great moves like Knock Off and Drain Punch boost its already decent power. Stealth Rock Kecleon is also notable for being able to make use of high Special Defense and access to Recover. One of the less "normal" Normal-types on this list, Kecleon has fallen off a bit in lieu of Komala but finds its place in this ZU metagame!
|
Lickilicky is ZU's token fat Pokémon that happens to be both Normal-type and really hard to KO. Lickilicky is best known in ZU as a specially defensive Wish passer and Heal Bell cleric. Due to Oblivious, Lickilicky can use Toxic to cripple Taunt users such as Vigoroth that aren't behind a Substitute and not be forced to carry an attacking move. As a result, Lickilicky pairs well with Pokémon such as Tangela, Bronzor, and Mareanie. However, while operating as a bulky cleric may be its primary use, Lickilicky can also elect to act as a bulky shuffler with Dragon Tail to spread status against the opposing team and wear the opposing team down with passive damage. In addition to this, Lickilicky has access to a number of very good attacking moves and two decent setup moves in Swords Dance and Belly Drum. A setup attacker set is unfortunately unable to excel because of the combination of Colbur Berry Gourgeist-XL, Pyukumuku, and the otherwise offensive shape of the metagame. However, Lickilicky still is a fantastic wall in ZU and the most reliable Wish passer the metagame has to offer.
|
Getting the hang of Bibarel is simple, literally! With access to Swords Dance and two STAB priority moves in Quick Attack and Aqua Jet, Bibarel can easily clean up against unprepared teams. Because Simple allows Bibarel to boost so quickly, it pairs quite nicely with dual screens users such as Meowstic and Memento users such as Dusknoir. Bibarel finds the time to set up on more passive Pokémon such as Altaria and Lickilicky or Pokémon that it can force out such as Golem. Bibarel can then proceed to use Return or Liquidation to wallbreak against slower threats such as Komala and Probopass. On the other hand, Aqua Jet or Quick Attack enables it to pick off faster, more frail threats such as Floatzel and Electivire. While Bibarel has recently dropped in viability due to the recent drops of Pyukumuku and Gourgeist-XL, it is still not bad by any means. This eager beaver only needs a good amount of team support such as entry hazard stacking from Pokémon such as Crustle to give it opportunities to set up and sweep.
|
Gumshoos is a powerful attacker that uses its high Attack and strong coverage moves to break through opposing Pokémon. Its low base 45 Speed allows it to move first consistently under Trick Room, while on balance teams its high base Attack, diverse coverage options, and ability that punishes switching combine to help it break through defensive Pokémon such as Bronzor and Golem. Access to U-turn makes it unusual among strong wallbreakers in that it can pivot to allow a teammate to come in freely if it cannot break through the foe. Finally, despite its competition with Choice Band Komala, which can do nearly the same thing, Adaptability, Stakeout, and capability of being better utilized on Trick Room allow Gumshoos to carve itself a niche.
|
Munchlax is very similar to Vigoroth in that it has a naturally high Special Defense, the capability of utilizing Eviolite, and access to a boosting move that increases its Attack and patches up its poor Defense. However, Munchlax has a few unique attributes as well. In terms of viable Pokémon, its gargantuan base 135 HP stat is only rivaled by Drifblim, and its fantastic ability in Thick Fat is only otherwise seen on Pokémon such as Grumpig. As a result, Munchlax excels at switching into and setting up on Pokémon such as Oricorio, Regice, and some variants of Abomasnow. While Munchlax has low Defense and Speed and heavily relies on Eviolite to tank hits, its unique attributes shine through and allow it to distinguish itself from Vigoroth.
|
Ditto is a well-known Pokémon that has historically had viability in every tier while never being quite good enough to rise, and ZU is no different. Its Imposter ability gives it a very interesting niche on stall teams in particular, which appreciate its ability to function as an anti-setup tool. While Pyukumuku rejoining the tier in October 2018 took away some of this niche, since the former's Unaware ability lets it take on setup sweepers as well, it is still by no means useless. The constant resetting of PP that is intrinsic to Imposter means that it almost single-handedly wins the stall versus stall matchup. Against non-stall teams, Ditto is always able to match the Speed benchmark set by the opposing team's Choice Scarf user, which can prove incredibly useful in certain scenarios such as Ditto switching into Choice Scarf Electivire going for a STAB Electric move. Despite its transformative nature, Ditto's niche in ZU is one-note, but still very important.
Zangoose dropped to ZU in October 2018 and immediately set two records: it was both the first unanimous ban vote in all of ZU, and the fastest ban we have had yet (and most likely will ever have). Within 8 hours, the entirety of the council voted that this Pokémon was completely broken and had to go. So what made Zangoose so incredibly difficult to deal with? It had two sets in Toxic Boost + Facade and Belly Drum + Quick Attack, neither of which had a true counter. Toxic Boost + Facade was an incredible breaker that was often compared to Guts Ursaring, which had been banned only a few months earlier, but was considerably faster and only slightly less powerful. It broke the entire defensive metagame with Facade, Close Combat, Knock Off, and Swords Dance, having no guaranteed switch-ins and leaving no room for defensive teams to succeed. Its immunity to burn after the Toxic Orb activated only exacerbated this issue. Meanwhile, its Belly Drum set left offensive teams with little counterplay. Due to the combination of its high Attack stat, Belly Drum, and Quick Attack, Zangoose swept through teams after only minimally weakening them. All in all, Zangoose was one of, if not the, most broken Pokémon that our tier has ever seen.
In July 2018, Trick Room turned from a nearly irrelevant playstyle to one of the most dominant playstyles seen on the ladder, largely in part to the immense power Ursaring possessed. STAB Guts-boosted Facade and the new mechanics of the burn status were too overwhelming for even the bulkiest of physical walls. Pokémon that could stomach a Guts-boosted Facade such as Mawile and Gourgeist-L were torn apart after a Swords Dance boost or by an appropriate coverage move. Ursaring also was not a one-and-done behemoth, as teammates such as Healing Wish Chimecho and Z-Memento Dusknoir were easily able to set up Trick Room again and restore Ursaring to full health. Lastly, while Ursaring was certainly not the bulkiest Pokémon, it could take a Mach Punch from Monferno or a combination of Fake Out + Sucker Punch from Kecleon comfortably, meaning that priority users were not able to sufficiently handle Ursaring. Players even began going to extremes by setting their Ursaring at Level 99 or 98 to move before an opposing Ursaring in Trick Room. Realizing that allowing Ursaring to stay in ZU would warp the metagame around it, the ZU Council decided to quickban Ursaring.
Stoutland is one of the most unique Pokémon in ZU history, as it is the only Pokémon to have been suspect tested twice. Counterplay to Stoutland when it was suspect tested the first time was adequate, with many teams already featuring some of its best checks, such as Tangela and defensive Mawile. However, as the metagame shifted and Stoutland's former checks were no longer nearly as relevant as they once were, Stoutland once again proved to be top dog. Stoutland was the Pokémon most recently banned via suspect test. It was the first suspect test to utilize the ZU ladder for voting requirements and was banned with a 70% majority at the end of September 2018. Stoutland most commonly ran a Choice Band set that allowed it to utilize Normal STAB and Fighting-type coverage in combination with Scrappy to hit everything for at least neutral damage. It also utilized a Life Orb and Sand Rush set on sand teams that were revived by the simultaneous addition of Stoutland and Sandslash to the tier. While Stoutland could be checked by physically defensive Normal-resistant Pokémon such as Mawile and Golem, it was ultimately banned because players felt like there were too many threats to consider during teambuilding, which pushed the metagame too far in favor of offense.
Type: Null was one of ZU's earlier bans, having been banned shortly after the release of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and before ZU was even on Smogon. Despite its inferior Speed compared to its evolved form, access to Eviolite immediately made Type: Null far more difficult to deal with than any Silvally forme. Type: Null had two major sets at the time it was legal. The first was the less popular and ultimately not broken RestTalk pivot set, which was incredibly bulky and utilized a slow U-turn. The set that Type: Null was primarily banned for was its mono-attacking Rest set, which had access to Swords Dance and Iron Defense. Iron Defense allowed Type: Null to invest fully in Special Defense, alongside Battle Armor, which meant that it was absurdly difficult to break consistently. If a player predicted this particular set wrong, then it was very easy to quickly lose a check to Type: Null's Return. On top of its boosting moves, Type: Null could also opt to utilize Toxic or a second attack over Iron Defense or Swords Dance, creating further issues in terms of prediction. The council decided that Type: Null was both overly centralizing to the metagame and simply too powerful individually, and it was therefore banned.
For the last several months, Normal-types in ZU have played a massive role in shaping the tier. Whether it be a usage drop from PU, a suspect test, or the innovation of a brand-new set, we know one thing is for certain: the level of influence ZU's Normal-types have made on the metagame is anything but normal.
« Previous Article | Next Article » |