RU Suspect Coverage

By Arifeen and EonX. Art by Tikitik.
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Introduction

Sharpedo by Tikitik

Mega Abomasnow and Sharpedo used to be RU during XY, but with the arrival of ORAS and Sharpedo getting a Mega Evolution, it quickly rose to UU. Soon after, Abomasnow rose to UU as well, as the tier was filled with bulky Water-types. Abomasnow and Sharpedo were very good in XY RU, but not enough to be considered broken, as the tier was full of bulky Pokémon such as Cresselia, Doublade, Cobalion, and Whimsicott. During that time, physically offensive Sharpedo was its best set, which was checked by Whimsicott, Doublade, and Cobalion rather easily. Mega Abomasnow ran the mixed set, but as Registeel, Cobalion, and Doublade were popular, it wasn't too threatening.

A couple of months into ORAS, and we see Abomasnow dropping to RU. The tier had drastically changed, as most people now ran Mega Steelix as their Steel-type, and there was a lack of bulky Pokémon, as Doublade, Cresselia, Cobalion, and Whimsicott had risen to UU earlier. Moltres also had been banned via suspect test a couple of months earlier, which meant one fewer check for Abomasnow, as Moltres could reliably switch into Giga Drain. Moltres's ban also made specially defensive walls less common, which Mega Abomasnow took advantage of. Mega Abomasnow punished teams that used Mega Steelix as their Steel-type Pokémon, which is arguably one of the best Pokémon in the tier, as it checks a lot of threats. Mega Abomasnow is also a nightmare for balanced teams, as it has only a handful of checks, which made it eligible for a suspect test.

Sharpedo dropped to RU after the separate tiering of Mega Evolutions was put into place and immediately became a top threat in the metagame. It became dangerous this time not because of its physical set but due to the special one, as RU had fewer specially defensive walls than before Moltres's ban. With access to Speed Boost, Sharpedo became a nightmare for offensive teams, as they started to run slower Pokémon such as Gurdurr to check it, losing momentum and offensive pressure in the process. With great coverage and powerful STAB moves, Sharpedo became the best candidate for a suspect test.

Sharpedo

Sharpedo made its return to RU after the decision to split base and Mega forme usage, and it didn't take long for it to make its presence felt. It started immediately at A+ in the viability ranking, and it wasn't long before it found itself in the S rank and being nominated as a suspect-worthy threat. Sharpedo was suspected due to the severe strain it put on offensive-minded teams and even balance teams, as it had very few defensive checks due to its ability to use special, physical, and mixed sets.

Sharpedo

The given set was the primary reason Sharpedo was suspected in Stage 14. With the given set, Sharpedo was able to push past many of RU's top defensive Pokémon, including Mega Steelix, Diancie, and Rhyperior, without a second thought. Ice Beam was crucial, as it allowed Sharpedo to come in and revenge kill Choice Scarf Tyrantrum after a Protect to gain a Speed Boost, as well as Virizion and Venusaur if they had taken some prior damage. Physical sets weren't as common or good, but they still had to be respected due to Sharpedo's high Attack stat and good STAB coverage. With Waterfall, Crunch, and Zen Headbutt, Sharpedo had better matchups against Meloetta, certain Slowking variants, and Poliwrath, and it would need less prior damage to KO Virizion. It could even mix and match these moves to make a mixed set in an attempt to get the best out of both. Sharpedo forced the use of niche Pokémon like specially defensive Assault Vest Tangrowth and specially defensive Alomomola and made Poliwrath much more viable than it probably should have been due to how massive of a threat Sharpedo became. Offensive teams absolutely needed priority from the likes of Hitmonlee, Gurdurr, and Fletchinder to avoid being cleanly swept by Sharpedo. A very common occurrence during this stage was offensive teams using Sharpedo that ended up facing each other, where usually, the winner was determined by whichever player could get their Sharpedo in first for a Speed Boost.

Mega Abomasnow

Mega Abomasnow was a strong threat in XY RU, but it moved up to UU early in ORAS. However, once Mega Abomasnow returned to RU, it was able to easily prey on the state of the metagame at that time. Most balance teams at the time were using defensive backbones consisting of Mega Steelix, Alomomola, and a Grass-type of choice. Thanks to its Ice- and Grass-type STAB coverage, Mega Abomasnow easily wore down these defensive backbones and forced balance teams into running the likes of Bronzong, Escavalier, and defensive Emboar to weather assaults from it. While it's easy to say that Mega Abomasnow is rather slow and has a very poor defensive typing, the problem lied in the fact that arguably its best three answers lacked reliable recovery and hail would nullify their Leftovers recovery. Escavalier was the lone exception, but since it had to use Assault Vest to better handle Mega Abomasnow, it wasn't getting an extra bit of recovery after each attack it switched into. This doesn't even take into account that Mega Abomasnow could use Hidden Power Fire for Escavalier or Earthquake for Emboar to nullify those two as checks.

Mega Abomasnow

This was Mega Abomasnow's most common set. With this set, Abomasnow was able to ravage slower teams and use Ice Shard to pick off key threats on offense, such as Flygon and Choice Scarf Tyrantrum. Blizzard and Giga Drain hammered many of the common defensive Pokémon in RU, including Diancie, Alomomola, and Rhyperior. Ice Shard was useful to pick off weakened offensive threats and provided nice chip damage if Mega Abomasnow had already done its job and likely wouldn't find another opening to fire off Blizzards or Giga Drains. Focus Blast was the most common coverage move for its ability to rip into Mega Steelix and maintain neutral coverage on Bronzong, Escavalier, and Emboar. Hidden Power Fire was a nice option for opposing Mega Abomasnow and Escavalier, while Earthquake covered Emboar and the rare Registeel. The EVs were designed to make sure Mega Abomasnow outsped Mega Steelix and OHKOed offensive variants of Flygon with Ice Shard after Stealth Rock or Hail damage. It should be noted that the EVs in Speed were highly variable due to Speed creeping, so this is only the spread that most players based their EVs off of. It wasn't uncommon for players to use 40, 80, or even over 100 extra Speed EVs to try and gain the advantage in mirror matches. It should also be noted that Mega Abomasnow had a potent Swords Dance set consisting of Wood Hammer, Earthquake, Ice Shard, and Swords Dance. This set would almost always use heavy Speed investment due to a lack of need to invest in Special Attack.

Conclusion

In the end, both Sharpedo and Abomasite ended up being banned. Sharpedo was banned by a very wide margin of 91%. Abomasite also was banned by a wide margin of 72%. Pokémon such as Mega Camerupt, Tyrantrum, Mega Glalie, and Life Orb Abomasnow will have a chance to shine in the new metagame, as they look ever more threatening now. Stay tuned for what happens next!

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