Top Ten Titans of Gen 8 UU
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Art by Albatross.
Introduction
Generation 8 UU has had a diverse set of metagames thanks in large part due to two DLCs and Pokémon HOME release. The tier started off initially with a fascinating Dynamax metagame in UU Alpha before the mechanic was banned by OU, with lots of interesting offensive threats such as Sigilyph taking advantage of it and defensive teams attempting to reliably handle such threats. After this, the metagame took a more balance team-focused approach, until HOME release offered both increased access to previously limited moves such as Knock Off and metagame defining Pokémon drops such as Incineroar. Each DLC afterwards lead to diverse changes in the UU metagames as new Pokémon dropped into the tier, with previous rulers of earlier metagames such as Incineroar and Noivern dropping off as the power level of the tier continuously increased throughout the generation.
In this article we explore the 10 Pokémon that were voted to have had the highest impact over the generation. Most of these Pokémon had complete dominance over specific metagames, but a couple were instead voted for their consistent value over a large continued duration of the generation. Carry on reading to learn more about the Pokémon and how they made the list!
10
Chansey dropped below Blissey for generation 8 thanks to the addition of Heavy-Duty Boots, letting UU play around with the insanely bulky blob. For the time Chansey has been here, it has served as a completely untouchable special wall that was an amazing check to special attackers like Primarina, Hydreigon, Nihilego, and Salamence while being not too shabby in terms of physical bulk either. The Teleport buff in generation 8 gave Chansey newfound life on bulky offense teams instead of its standard fatter balances and stall teams, letting it serve as a fantastic pivot to support various offensive threats such as Conkeldurr, Zeraora, and Victini while also making it much less passive. Alongside this, Chansey had still been able to run various other supportive options; as a Stealth Rock setter it remained one of the hardest for Defog users such as Salamence and Rotom-W to handle, while on stall teams it was able to provide valuable Heal Bell support.
While it never rose to become the top Pokémon of any metagame, Chansey has been an enormous constant presence that served as one of the strongest checks to the host of special attackers the tier had available and as a fantastic defensive glue for a variety of teams, in particular thanks to its ability to glue more offensive structures together that would otherwise not work with its Stealth Rock + Teleport sets; it would always make its presence known in how it dictated teambuilding to ensure its teammates could break past it, with options such as Future Sight + Fighting-types, Spikes pressure, and dedicated stallbreakers such as Taunt Chandelure and Calm Mind Hatterene being just some of the such ways.
9
Primarina came onto the scene early into the tier's days and left the scene shortly after. It was already borderline now that the tier was in a much lower power level than the SM UU it thrived in, but it had also received Calm Mind in the generational shift, giving it an infuriating boost to its threat level. Once certain players (read: me, lily. (y/n? idk) how do i put this in. it was me LET ME HAVE THIS) discovered its Calm Mind + Snore set, it was curtains for the siren; it would set up on "counters" like Bronzong, Celebi, and Roserade once it got a Calm Mind or two, and then it'd just sweep with its boosted Snore and Moonblast. The list of counters to this set was essentially limited to Haze Milotic, specially defensive Togedemaru (which needed Zing Zap to actually pressure Primarina in the first place), and Synthesis Tsareena. Needless to say, it didn't take long before Primarina got quickbanned, not seeing the light of the tier again until the Crown Tundra DLC.
Nowadays, Primarina is really good. Calm Mind + Snore is still as lethal as ever, Choice Specs is as close to a nuke as you can get, and classic RestTalk variants glue teams together against threats like Hydreigon, Salamence, and Keldeo. Some players even believe its presence is so strong that it should be banned; its polarizing nature has been unique to it for as long as the tier has existed, and it will likely remain that way until the end of time itself. There are more checks nowadays, like Chansey, Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and in worst case scenarios you can sometimes beat Primarina with... your own Primarina. But there is an old saying as far as UU teams go—"if your team exists, there is a Prim set that can beat it". That sentence alone should be evidence enough to show you why Primarina found its way onto this list.
8
Fun fact: Cobalion has ended every generation in UU since its introduction all the way back in Black and White. It has also ended them all in a good state; there's no generation of UU where Cobalion is considered bad, but none have been as excellent for it as SS has. It did get a couple of buffs, most notably the addition of Megahorn to its movepool, but really it was the landscape around Cobalion that made it so excellent; it has always had amazing defensive utility as a check to the likes of Obstagoon, Zarude, Roserade, Copperajah, and Scizor. As a bonus, it could (and frequently did) lure in tier king Noivern and nail it with a Thunder Wave, opening up the game for teammates like Pangoro and Toxtricity significantly with their main revenge killer decommissioned. Of course, with its excellent coverage, it was also an amazing Swords Dance user; it could rip through essentially every Fighting-resistant Pokémon in the tier save for Doublade, and there wasn't much to naturally outspeed it with; the list was essentially limited to Heliolisk, Inteleon, Ribombee, and the aforementioned Noivern.
These days, though, Cobalion is somehow better than it was in the significantly less power crept metagame it thrived in a few years ago. It is the best Pokémon in SS UU at the time of this article's writing—the end of Generation 8—and it shows no signs of slowing down. It brings so much to a team in a single slot; good Scizor check, good Zarude check, good Nihilego check, can outspeed and threaten a bunch of Pokémon like Excadrill, Hydreigon and Thundurus-T... you get the idea. Between its amazing Swords Dance and Stealth Rock sets, it is so easy to fit onto a team and it gives you so much by virtue of its amazing Speed tier, customization options, and wonderful Steel typing. While it's certainly not at a level of being considered mandatory, it is so good that you really should consider using it on every team you build. Not a bad showing for a Pokémon with a lower Attack stat than Anorith.
7
The king of SM UU returned to SS UU to the disdain of a percentage of the playerbase, who were extremely worried about how powerful it would be, between its sdbpbpbpbp'ing (Swords Dance + Bullet Punch combination) and the fact that most of its checks were reliant on Heavy-Duty Boots and therefore very vulnerable to Knock Off.
Scizor became a very valuable Pokémon immediately with the combination of its defensive utility as a check to highly theatening Pokémon like Nihilego and Kyurem and scary offensive potential with Swords Dance + Bullet Punch. Despite fears about its power level, it was kept in check decently by the presence of Pokémon such as Aegislash and Skarmory and could become overwhelmed while trying to check Pokémon like Nihilego in the long run. Despite this, it provided a constant threat in the teambuilder and could also be a fantastic supportive option with its U-turn sets, enabling various offensive Pokémon, forming strong VoltTurn cores, and providing valuable Knock Off support to cripple Pokémon by removing items such as Skarmory's Rocky Helmet and Noivern's Heavy-Duty Boots. It could even run Swords Dance + 3 attacks Life Orb sets on HO teams to better get around various forms of counterplay such as Cobalion.
The Zeraora + Mew metagame gave Scizor a fresh new look on life, with Mew's incredible potential to keep Spikes up versus all manner of removers pairing insanely well with Scizor's Swords Dance + Knock Off and 3 attacks Roost sets, while Zeraora could create devastating VoltTurn cores alongside Scizor and simultaneously Knock Off various checks' items, making Spikes incredibly dangerous. After Mew and Zeraora eventually rose to OU and lowered Scizor's immediate threat level without Spikes, Aegislash-centric metagames Scizor was left with some issues as an unreliable Aegislash answer and struggled to use non-Knock Off sets without being Aegislash bait, but Scizor's presence continued to strengthen after Aegislash's ban, leading towards it eventually receiving a suspect test.
Scizor receiving a suspect test was a contentious topic, but people in favor of the test argued for it based on its ability to punish all forms of counterplay against it; Knock Off would punish a lot of the most common Swords Dance set counterplay by making foes such as Salamence much more vulnerable to Stealth Rock and stopping Rocky Helmet Pokémon such as Cobalion, Skarmory, and Amoonguss from punishing its pivoting, while U-turn would turn any counterplay to traditional Swords Dance sets such as Cobalion vulnerable fodder to a range of other threats, making Scizor always able to generate momentum or progress no matter what.
Scizor ended up staying in UU despite this suspect test, as people felt that despite these points teams could comfortably stack multiple checks to it, and its entry points were traditionally fairly limited by the fact that it was often forced to Roost against switch-ins like Nihilego, especially when it had inevitably lost its Leftovers to Knock Off. The popularity of Pokémon such as Cobalion has led to Scizor dropping in viability a bit towards the end of the generation, with it being rather difficult to fit into teams sometimes too, but nonetheless Scizor has remained, as it always has, a deadly threat that one must always consider in the teambuilder thanks to its incredible late-game potential and fantastic coverage that can overwhelm specific single checks.
6
Galarian Slowbro—or simply Glowbro as it is affectionately called—was an interesting one. It took some time to take off; when it first dropped from OU, people messed with its now-infamous "QCQD" (Quick Claw + Quick Draw) set, but upon discovering its inconsistency they dismissed the Pokémon as mediocre. Some time later, a few players would begin experimenting with sets that ran three attacking moves and Slack Off, which weren't amazing by any means, but they put Glowbro on the map. What really set Glowbro apart, though, was the proliferation of its Calm Mind + resist Berry sets. Those sets were so absurd that they're gonna need their own paragraph.
Picture this. You are facing a boosted Galarian Slowbro, and you're not worried too much; yes, it's going to take out your Keldeo, but in turn you'll trade for about 65% of its health with a Hydro Pump. That should be plenty to revenge it with Zarude, your team's Dark-type (and the most common one in the tier back then). Surely a STAB-boosted, super effective Darkest Lariat coming off a whopping base 120 Attack will be enough to revenge this thing at 35%, right?
Wrong.
252 Atk Zarude Darkest Lariat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Colbur Berry Slowbro-Galar: 99-117 (25.1 - 29.6%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Not even close.
It can't be overstated how infuriating this Pokémon was to play against. It walled Zarude, it walled Mamoswine, it walled everything that could threaten it as long as it had the right Berry (and sometimes it didn't even need it). Even if you DID complete the monumental task of getting your offensive check in safely on a Glowbro, you'd have to make sure it was super low on HP, scout its Berry, and if you got that wrong you'd have to avoid either a KO from it or, if you happened to live, a 30% poison or burn from Sludge Bomb or Scald. And this doesn't even begin to mention Assault Vest.
Yeah. To say it ruled the tier would be a massive understatement. Galarian Slowbro had a massive impact on UU and more than deserves a place on this list.
5
Amoonguss has had a famous history within UU tiers for its access to the incredibly powerful Spore, the 100% accurate sleep move that can instantly shut down a Pokémon off the opposing team. To no one's surprise, this made it a hugely relevant Pokémon again in SS UU with the ability to instantly create advantages while checking dangerous threats like Keldeo and Primarina thanks to its typing, bulk, and access to Regenerator. The prevalence of Amoonguss has been so metagame defining at times that multiple Pokémon have adapted into running Safety Goggles sets to turn around their matchups versus an otherwise strong check, such as Swords Dance Bisharp and Scizor, the former of which could even hard set up against it.
Amoonguss has competed with Tangrowth a fair amount during the generation as the other bulky Regenerator Grass-type, which is seen as less passive than an Amoonguss that has already used Spore and could better check offensive Water-types with its Assault Vest set, but Amoonguss's access to Spore and ability to hard counter opposing Tangrowth, alongside its easier time dealing with certain physical setup sweepers with Foul Play, hsvr always had it competing neck and neck. Amoonguss at times has been seen running Stun Spore alongside or instead of Spore to remedy the passivity issue, facilitating slower deadly wallbreakers such as Conkeldurr and in recent times Vanilluxe.
4
Zarude's weird mix of offensive and defensive utility in UU has made it one of the most unique pivots in UU. On one hand, it's fast, has a great STAB combination of Grass + Dark, and gets a very useful signature move in Jungle Healing. On the other hand, though, being a Dark-type that lacks Knock Off hinders it a bit, and although it's fast, as UU kept developing along the Isle of Armor and eventually Crown Tundra metagames, Zarude's Speed became less and less impressive over time. It already ran a Choice Scarf set from the start, but the cracks were starting to show once Aegislash entered the metagame again. Being locked into anything other than Darkest Lariat would automatically put the Aegislash player at an advantage. In a metagame with Pokémon like defensive Salamence, Skarmory, and Cobalion, the only other move Zarude wasn't afraid of clicking was U-turn, and so it became known as the "U-turn bot". However, the other common set was the Heavy-Duty Boots pivot with Jungle Healing, which made Zarude skyrocket in usage again as one of the best offensive Aegislash counters in the game, being capable of switching into its monstrous Shadow Ball and heal off Toxic status. Overall, Zarude has left its mark in UU as a pretty scary pivot once its checks were weakened.
3
If you look at Zeraora's impact in UU, it can be summarized in a single item: Heavy-Duty Boots. Not only could Zeraora block one of the main ways of forcing damage on pivot Pokémon by negating hazard damage, it was the fastest unboosted Pokémon in the tier ( in addition to outspeeding boosted foes like +1 Adamant Gyarados). If that wasn't enough, it also had access to Knock Off, which meant it could remove Choice Scarf from Pokémon like Krookodile that might try to block its Volt Switch and proceed to outspeed the entire opposing team. Knock Off was also an incredible tool to remove opposing Heavy-Duty Boots to force hazard damage on the opposing team, especially since Zeraora was very commonly paired with Mew, the premier Spikes setter at the time. Forcing damage on Zeraora was insanely difficult, especially because it also had Volt Absorb to negate opposing Volt Switch and regain back some HP if it ever lost its Heavy-Duty Boots in a Zeraora mirror match (and trust me, those happened often).
However, Zeraora was not relegated to becoming a Volt Switch bot, being too afraid of clicking the wrong move and being punished for it. That was mainly because of its blistering Speed, which let it forego a Choice Scarf, and thus, enabled it to KO switch-ins that would come in on a resisted move. The standard set ran Plasma Fists / Volt Switch / Knock Off / Close Combat, where the last move was used to hit opposing Zeraora and the most common Ground-type at the time in Krookodile. However, Zeraora quickly adapted to checks by running Blaze Kick for Amoonguss and Scizor, Play Rough for Kommo-o, Grass Knot for Rhyperior (sometimes also with Shuca Berry), and even Bulk Up with Acrobatics + Grassy Seed for Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Kommo-o. No matter what you tried to do, Zeraora had a way to deal with your team. It infinitely spammed Volt Switch and Knock Off, and when the opposing team was already barely hanging on, it would come in and finish everything off. Some think it would have been banned had it not risen to OU!
2
Coming in at second place, Aegislash has been present in UU since the Isle of Armor DLC and instantly cemented itself as one of the most controversial Pokémon in UU during Generation 8. Its unmatched versatility and insane defensive and offensive utility made it incredibly challenging for teams to deal with, and every time it was released into UU, it got sent back to UUBL, be it via council vote or through suspect test. As stated before, Aegislash's versatility, as both a huge offensive threat and an extremely annoying defensive wall, is what made the UU tier shiver in fear of it. It could run a offensive set with Shadow Ball to shred basically the entire tier alongside coverage in Close Combat coming off of its 140 base Attack to destroy Chansey, Zarude, and the rare Obstagoon and Umbreon. Since Ghost + Fighting coverage was so good by itself in UU, most sets also ran Toxic to cripple walls like Assault Vest Tangrowth enough to break them late-game. Physical Swords Dance or Double Dance sets with Autotomize were also used to catch opposing teams off guard with powerful priority in Shadow Sneak and shred the Normal- and Dark-types that checked Aegislash with Close Combat. The last time Aegislash saw the light of day in UU, it really took advantage of the fact that the meta was more slow and bulky and revolved around Pokémon like Primarina, Hippowdon, defensive Salamence, and Slowking. This made it even easier for it to spam its infamous SubToxic set like never before. The combination of Aegislash's bulk, typing and moves, such as King's Shield and Toxic, made it infuriatingly hard to break through, and it flipped counters to offensive sets, like Mandibuzz. Hippowdon, and Tangrowth, on their heads with the Toxic stalling and King's Shield's Attack-lowering effect. Aegislash has been a huge force this generation and undoubtedly deserves its spot as number two!
1
A constant. That is the best way to describe Noivern. Throughout every iteration of SS UU, Noivern has always been there, doing the same thing over and over and consistently doing it just as well as it always did. It came out the gate as the single best Pokémon in the tier once SS UU started to stabilize, and it kept that moniker all the way throughout the pre-DLC and Isle of Armor metagames, continuing to maintain an excellent level of viability in today's Crown Tundra-based SS UU. It was essentially the best option the tier had for speedy offense killer for as long as SS UU existed; even in the final days of SS UU, Noivern's competition for its role was surprisingly limited thanks to a lack of strong Choice Scarf users and the other naturally fast Pokémon in the tier all hovering around a similar Speed tier near base 115.
What made Noivern so good though? After all, its stats (other than its amazing Speed) are quite middling; its bulk is good but not that good, and its Special Attack is serviceable at best. A perfect storm of factors is what made it so strong; the addition of Heavy-Duty Boots was amazing for a pivoting, speedy Flying-type, the initial impact of Dexit meant that early UU had a single viable Fairy-type—Galarian Weezing—that could hardly be considered a Noivern check, and its typing and just-good-enough bulk were enough to let it check big threats like Cobalion, Zarude, Mienshao, and Azelf. Its Speed tier was instrumental in this; in particular, it often felt more reliable to send Noivern in against Cobalion rather than something like Galarian Slowbro since, despite taking significantly more damage from it, you weren't at risk of a flinch or an otherwise nasty secondary effect. It compressed so many offensive and defensive roles into one slot that it was almost too good not to use for months on end. To then survive power creep and retain strong viability in the current SS UU is extremely impressive, giving Noivern a very deserved title as the #1 titan of SS UU.
Final Thoughts
Generation 8 has been a fascinating journey from start to end. It has been an extremely volatile generation that often struggled to maintain a consistent identity early on with the constant changes and featured the introduction of controversial mechanics and additions such as Dynamax and Heavy-Duty Boots, but it will overall be remembered as a generation that was always full of interesting metagames, for better or worse. Moving into generation 9, we will hopefully look back at this generation fondly!
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