A Tale of Three Beasts: The Impact of the Paradox Beasts on AAA

By cat. Released:2024/12/20
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A Tale of Three Beasts: The Impact of the Paradox Beasts on AAA Art

Art by Fusion Flare.

Almost Any Ability, more frequently and well-known as AAA, is a tier where, well, you can give almost any Pokémon almost any ability! This can vary from giving Manaphy Regenerator to Roaring Moon Sword of Ruin. Many strong abilities roam the tier, from the immensely useful and volatile Magic Guard to the incredibly potent Hadron Engine. With the ability to trade in their mediocre or bad abilities, some Pokémon can get an incredible makeover, allowing them to shine. For example, Hisuian Electrode can utilize Magic Guard + Life Orb to great effect, allowing it to spam Chloroblast freely while losing its susceptibility to passive damage like entry hazards, granting it a niche as a fast and strong offensive pivot. Another Pokémon that improves significantly is Scream Tail, which uses Pixilate to turn into a fearsome offensive unit packed with utility like Stealth Rock, Wish, and Psychic Noise. AAA is no perfect tier without bans, however; the "Almost" alludes to that. Despite the immense amount of creativity that having a customizable ability provides, certain elements or combinations prove to be too strong for the tier. Obviously broken abilities like Wonder Guard and Pure Power are broken, while individual Pokémon like Slaking and Noivern are banned too. These Pokémon made the most of their abilities, with Slaking having a near perfect synergy with Poison Heal, which was legal at the time, and Noivern having an incredibly hard-hitting Aerilate Boomburst that made it difficult to switch into.

The Palkia Clone: Walking Wake Walking Wake

Before the Pokémon HOME update came out, Walking Wake dropped into the tier out of thin air in the midst of the Gholdengo suspect test and immediately started ravaging the tier. The eye-catching set was Choice Specs + Beads of Ruin, but other niche sets like Magic Guard + Life Orb came with the capability of switching between moves at the cost of some power. Primordial Sea sets were also seen, making Hydro Pump nigh impossible to switch into while completely blanking Fire-type moves. Choice Specs + Beads of Ruin was the most outrageously broken of them all, smacking Water-immune foes like Desolate Land Iron Moth and Cinderace with a strong Draco Meteor. Counterplay to this set was extremely limited, causing extremely niche sets like Water Absorb Florges and Scream Tail to emerge to counter it, similar to the effect Keldeo had in previous generations of AAA. Not even two days had lasted before the AAA Council had decided to nuke it from the tier even though there was an ongoing suspect test. This tends to be a big no-no tiering-wise, which just shows how oppressive Walking Wake was on the tier.

This set took advantage of Walking Wake's impressive base 125 Special Attack to blast holes into the opposing team, making use of the limited counterplay to this set: Water Absorb Florges and Scream Tail. Although these Pokémon weren't bad, they preferred to use other abilities like Unaware to cover a wider portion of the metagame. The common specially defensive options at the time, RegenVest Roaring Moon and Garchomp, had no business switching into Walking Wake, further cementing its brokenness. Florges and Scream Tail could easily be taken advantage of by threats like Iron Moth and Gengar and thus paired well with Walking Wake, which could threaten their answers like the aforementioned RegenVest Roaring Moon and Garchomp.

Walking Wake Two: Electric Boogaloo

With new Pokémon in DLC 1 and from the Pokémon HOME update, the AAA Council elected to clean up the banlist by reintroducing Walking Wake along with previously banned threats like Dragonite, Gengar, and Great Tusk, with a Gholdengo unban coming soon after. The general opinion on Walking Wake was mixed; on one hand, it had gained new checks like Empoleon, RegenVest Manaphy, and Water Absorb Fezandipiti; on the other hand, it had gained new toys in Flip Turn and Knock Off; the former maintained momentum in the face of checks like Empoleon, while the latter removed key items like Assault Vest and Leftovers, making it harder to check overall. The Choice Specs set made a return as a deadly wallbreaker, while Choice Scarf sets emerged as strong speed control that could still hit hard and generate momentum. Niche sets like Magic Guard + Life Orb and RegenVest were considered with its newly gained utility movepool, but those sets quickly faded from sight. As the meta progressed, Fezandipiti eventually fell out of favor and Manaphy started investing in Defense instead of Special Defense, only further cementing the Primordial Palkia clone's destructive capabilities. However, not all was well for Walking Wake, as Roaring Moon gained Knock Off, and Azelf finally regained Expanding Force. These two Pokémon that loved using Choice Scarf always outsped Walking Wake and threatened to OHKO it. Furthermore, staples like Empoleon and specially defensive Manaphy remained great checks to it, with the latter causing Dragon's Maw to surge in popularity.

When DLC 2 dropped, out came a surge of powercreep, and with it arrived a counter seemingly tailor-made to nerf Walking Wake: Primarina. Primarina, just like most other counterplay, could still be worn down over time though, especially since it was tasked with dealing with other threats like Gouging Fire and Chien-Pao. Walking Wake still continued to tear holes into opposing teams nevertheless, especially when Swampert usage was at an all-time high due to its lower Special Defense and neutrality to a newly gained Primordial Sea-boosted Weather Ball. Eventually, the meta adjusted to Walking Wake, with new sets like specially defensive Water Absorb Skarmory and Heatran preferring Water Absorb over Desolate Land to more consistently check it. This can be alluded to the stranglehold the bearded bipedal had on the tier, with many of the playerbase outcrying for tiering action. Their voices were heard, and out came a Walking Wake suspect test slightly before the next iteration of Other Metagames Premier League started. The suspect test eventually led to Walking Wake's removal from the tier, with a 67.7% majority voting to ban it.

Walking Wake did basically the same thing as always: click strong STAB moves and nuke something. Knock Off was always the third move 99% of the time, but when it was paired with Ceruledge, which hated teammates clicking Knock Off to spam Poltergeist, Surf or Dragon Pulse was a better option depending on its ability. Choice Specs offered more immediate power, letting Walking Wake more efficiently break holes into opposing teams with brute force. On the other hand, Choice Scarf allowed it to act as amazing speed control with incredible damage output, turning the tables on would-be revenge killers like Scream Tail and Chien-Pao. Walking Wake loved being paired with offensive pivots like Roaring Moon and Zapdos, with their ability to threaten its switch-ins like RegenVest Manaphy and Empoleon.

The Miraidon Clone: Raging Bolt Raging Bolt

Game Freak must really love Miraidon that much to quite literally create a clone of it. AAA then added the final touches to it, giving it Hadron Engine, which made it a slightly frailer, much slower, and slightly harder-hitting version of Miraidon. Except... Miraidon doesn't get Rising Voltage, which 2HKOes Blissey of all things. Sure, send in your Great Tusk or Sandy Shocks predicting Rising Voltage and watch them disappear to a Draco Meteor. Its meager Speed gave way to Surge Surfer sets being experimented with when paired with a pivoting teammate that used Hadron Engine like Latios or Sandy Shocks. Calm Mind + Earth Eater was also discovered with its newfound capabilities of turning a would-be check in Swampert into setup fodder while turning Sandy Shocks into a free switch-in opportunity, taking advantage of its good natural bulk and Thunderclap, which allowed it to bypass its low Speed. Furthermore, Calm Mind allowed it to muscle past hard checks that emerged like Volt Absorb Heatran and Corviknight by setting up on them and blasting them away with boosted Dragon Pulses. Raging Bolt was pretty blatantly broken, and less than a week after it was introduced to the tier, the AAA Council held a vote and quickbanned it out of the tier.

Oh right... it gets two other moveslots. Thunderclap just made nasty mind games that made it much harder to handle, while Volt Switch let it pivot out, although frankly, you wanted Raging Bolt to stay in as long as possible. Raging Bolt was truly unwallable, as no Ground-type wanted to switch into an incredibly potent Draco Meteor. Raging Bolt only had two real checks: RegenVest Swampert and Hisuian Goodra, as they were immune to or resisted Raging Bolt's Electric-type moves and could switch in to scout which move Raging Bolt would lock itself into. Although Swampert sustained heavy damage from Draco Meteor, it could switch into a teammate after that could now handle Raging Bolt. When it was paired with good offensive pivots like Roaring Moon and Barraskewda, Raging Bolt could find many opportunities to click buttons and tear apart the opposing team.

The Better Reshiram: Gouging Fire Gouging Fire

Gouging Fire is a strong Dragon Dance sweeper in most tiers, and AAA is no exception. With Magic Guard in its arsenal, Gouging Fire could bypass Flare Blitz recoil and entry hazards while running a drawback-free Life Orb and not needing Heavy-Duty Boots. Alternatively, Desolate Land with Heavy-Duty Boots could be used instead, offering stronger Flare Blitzes and increasing Morning Sun's recovery output while providing utility to the team by granting a Water-immune teammate. Sword of Ruin was an alternative option that let it boost the damage output of Outrage and Earthquake. Gouging Fire's counterplay was simple: you either had a check, or you didn't. Baby-Doll Eyes Primarina that donned no item saw usage as a check to it while checking Ceruledge and Roaring Moon and scouting Walking Wake's choice of move. Other options like Well-Baked Body Corviknight and Gholdengo rose in usage too, but Gouging Fire could easily use them as setup fodder if running Morning Sun or invalidate Gholdengo as a check by slotting in Earthquake over Morning Sun.

Gouging Fire could also opt to run a defensive set, taking advantage of its spectacular bulk to check threats like Iron Moth, Cinderace, and Hisuian Electrode. With Earth Eater, Gouging Fire expanded the list of threats it could check, which includes Sandy Shocks, Great Tusk, and to some extent, Dragonite. Gouging Fire wasn't without flaws though—that base 91 Speed stat can be disappointing at times, as it was prone to Choice Scarf revenge killers like Roaring Moon, Azelf, and Walking Wake after a Dragon Dance. Gouging Fire also couldn't set up whenever it wanted to, with threats like Iron Boulder and Latios being capable of OHKOing it if it tried to set up. Hence, the AAA Council voted to grant it a suspect test, where it was outed from the tier by a 74% supermajority.

With its combination of good stats and offensive typing, Gouging Fire can be a hassle for teams to play against by virtue of virtually 2HKOing most of the tier. Morning Sun went hand in hand with Gouging Fire's good natural bulk, allowing it to turn hard checks like Well-Baked Body Corviknight and Gholdengo into setup fodder while allowing it to remain healthy throughout the course of a game. Gouging Fire loved to be paired with pivots; offensive pivots like Roaring Moon and Walking Wake, which was legal then, could bring it in on their checks like Fluffy Corviknight and Empoleon, while defensive pivots like Corviknight and RegenVest Manaphy could safely bring it in against slower threats like Slither Wing and Heatran. These free switches allowed Gouging Fire to pose a threat throughout the course of a game.

Conclusion

Turns out that Protosynthesis is far worse than Primordial Sea, Hadron Engine, and Magic Guard! The Paradox Beasts were granted abilities that had near perfect synergy with their typings and movepools, allowing them to truly shine! The Paradox Beasts are the best examples of how a Pokémon can succeed in AAA—having a good stat spread, an ability that complements its other components like its movepool and typing, and possessing a strong niche that makes it stand out amongst the competition. The bans of our draconian friends have led to many developments in the tier—while Raging Bolt's ban did not cause much development to happen, Gouging Fire's and Walking Wake's bans caused the meta to have less emphasis on speed control, with popular scarfers like Roaring Moon and Azelf losing popularity—the former adopted a Magic Guard + Life Orb set, allowing it to remove items with Knock Off without worry of passive damage from entry hazards and Rocky Helmet, while the latter suffered from competition with Deoxys-S. The meta has shifted to a more offensive pace while being balanced and healthy, so now is a better time than ever to join the AAA community and learn more about the tier! The Metagame Thread is the best place to discuss the tier with others, while the OM Discord is a great place for live discussion!

HTML by Steorra.
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