Other Current Metagame trends

Status
Not open for further replies.
If Raikou's checking dual birds, you're switching in and then Volt Switching. Leftovers recovery is almost insignificant for that purpose. On the other hand, everything else it's regularly used to check hits it specially, giving Assault Vest a fair bit more utility.

On another note, Fairy usage is still contracting around Clefable (for defensive purposes) and Mawile (for offense). Togekiss' SR weakness and inferior defensive ability to Clefable, and on the other hand, the sinking popularity of the double bird strategy (in which Togekiss could function as a useful lure), are costing it a lot of usage. Azumarill is slowly being edged out as well as more reliable defensive cores are popularised, countering the threats which it was previously used to check.
 
BKC said:
pursuit (bisharp/ttar/aegislash) + keldeo/charizard-y is really popular. lati@s have always been ridiculously easy to take advantage of by trapping and since they're really common counters to keld and zard it's a pretty easy combo to put together.
Click to expand...

Zard-Y+Pursuit is one of the most consistent strategies right now.
I just posted an in-depth guide to it, you can check out here.

(this is a shameless plug and nothing more)
 
Thats true, I was just stating that lately I have seen very few Sableye and more Thundurus-I. They do have very different roles but I think the heavy use of Rotom-W with WoW has something to do with the fall of Sableye
 
I haven't seen Thundurus used as a Prankster very much, I usually see it primarily as a special attacker with the priority thunder waves. In terms of utility as a Prankster, Klefki definitely has a nice advantage due to its typing and different uses. Klefki can be used as a hazard setter, a screen setter, or used with the dreaded SwagPlay set, making it the more popular prankster 'mon over Sableye.
 
An interesting trend has been SubToxic Aegislash. Aegislash was first used in this generation mainly as an SD attacker, but evolved into a bulky mixed attacker. SubToxic Aegislash can wear down a ton of defensive Pokemon and is generally a major pain in the ass to beat. It still hits pretty hard with its max Special Attack Shadow Balls, but has a stalling bent. It's weird that such a mighty offensive threat is actually using a more stallish set than anything.

Another thing is LO + SR Deo-S. This set still can support with the SR hazard, but provides an offensive/RKing threat throughout the battle as well as in the lead position. The existence of Deo-D, which is generally better at stacking hazards, has pushed this adaption, as most players looking for a SR + Spikes setter look into Deo-D first.

Scarf Lando-T has become much more popular on the upper ladder as of late. More and more players are opting to use this set, which has become somewhat of a surprise in a meta consistently dominated by the SR + Lefties set. It is a competent, bulky revenge kill that can still pivot in thanks to Intimidate, but boasts a much higher Speed stat that gives it a nice advantage over Pokemon like Thundurus that would try to HP Ice it.

Mega Tyranitar is a Pokemon that has risen immensely in usage as of late. Perhaps it is partially due to the ban of Genesect and Mega Lucario, which both threatened it immensely -- Mega Tyranitar has emerged as a preeminent sweeper. It is just so good at tearing apart teams with but one or two things removed, typically. It's bulky as all hell -- as a personal example, it survived a CB Entei's ESpeed from 19%. It takes like 20% from Bisharp's Life Orb-boosted Adamant Sucker Punch. Azumarill's CB Aqua Jet doesn't even come near OHKOing. Hell, Mega Tyranitar can survive some STAB super effective attacks. Unboosted Garchomp's EQ does 67.2 - 79.5% to the thing. 100/150/120 (sand-boosted the SDef is so high, the number skyrockets to ridiculous levels) defenses with a big Attack stat and all the coverage you need in Crunch / Ice Punch / EQ makes it a terrifying sweeper that's so difficult to revenge kill.
 
Knock off is becoming a pretty standard move and is bringing a lot of bulky pokes like Conkelldurr and Gliscor previous overlooked dark types closer to the standard environment like Mandibuzz, Krookodile, Bisharp, and Crawdaunt. Is this just a fad or is it the beginning of a new defensive play style?
 
ChicagoJones said:
Knock off is becoming a pretty standard move and is bringing a lot of bulky pokes like Conkelldurr and Gliscor previous overlooked dark types closer to the standard environment like Mandibuzz, Krookodile, Bisharp, and Crawdaunt. Is this just a fad or is it the beginning of a new defensive play style?
Click to expand...
Well, given that Knock Off is now the most powerful physical Dark-Type move with the added benefit of removing the opponent's held item, I think it's safe to say that it'll be around for a while. This plus the steel nerf means that a lot of Dark-types are seeing more usage, and Knock Off is almost always their best attacking option, so it's not just a defensive strategy, it's a great offensive move as well.
 
Jukain said:
Mega Tyranitar is a Pokemon that has risen immensely in usage as of late. Perhaps it is partially due to the ban of Genesect and Mega Lucario, which both threatened it immensely -- Mega Tyranitar has emerged as a preeminent sweeper. It is just so good at tearing apart teams with but one or two things removed, typically. It's bulky as all hell -- as a personal example, it survived a CB Entei's ESpeed from 19%. It takes like 20% from Bisharp's Life Orb-boosted Adamant Sucker Punch. Azumarill's CB Aqua Jet doesn't even come near OHKOing. Hell, Mega Tyranitar can survive some STAB super effective attacks. Unboosted Garchomp's EQ does 67.2 - 79.5% to the thing. 100/150/120 (sand-boosted the SDef is so high, the number skyrockets to ridiculous levels) defenses with a big Attack stat and all the coverage you need in Crunch / Ice Punch / EQ makes it a terrifying sweeper that's so difficult to revenge kill.
Click to expand...
I was just about to post about this guy. Stemming partially from the popularity of support tyranitar, mega ttar is quite the threat right now. One thing it does well is utilize its old dd set. It's interesting how something that used to be support or pivot works so well as an offensive mon
 
Although I've seen it more in SPL than anything else (seen it quite a bit on the upper part of the ladder) physical Thundurus has become less of a gimmick and more of a very potent lure to Pokemon that would normally have no issues checking it, such as Latias, Mega Venusaur, Tyranitar, and Conkeldurr. A simple set consisting of Fly / Wild Charge / Superpower / Bulk Up or Knock Off can be devastating to teams that depend on the after mentioned Pokemon to deal with Thundurus. Also, it's able to grab easy boosts on Defoggers thanks to its Defiant ability, which only adds to the sheer surprise factor and makes it immediately threatening. Still, physical Thundurus is no where near as threatening as its special sets, nor is it taking the metagame by a storm or anything, but it's definitely something to look out for and it can be very successful when given the right support. I think it's a perfect example of a metagame trend, because normally physical Thundurus would barely ever see the light of day simply because there's little reason to use it over its special sets, even though it has a decent Attack stat and cool ability. But because Thundurus is feared by so many teams and many of its checks and counters are common, the physical set is perfectly viable because it wipes the floor with Pokemon that normally counter it, and it's actually worth using sometimes because of its great physical movepool and Attack stat. Its player's ways of adapting to the influx of special Thundurus checks and counters.

EDIT: Apparently someone already said this. Sorry :/
 
Last edited:
Punchshroom said:
Also another trend would be physical Thundurus-I, an idea that would've been utterly ridiculous in BW. Physical Thundurus-I has gotten some neat buffs that make it viable, the most obvious one being Defiant, and it has the movepool to threaten nearly every Defogger in OU. A buffed Knock Off to hit / cripple Lati@s and Chansey, which it could not before, also does it some favors. Even its lone physical Flying STAB, well, Fly, has received newfound use in smacking Mega Venusaur and Assault Vest Conkeldurr.
Click to expand...
Yeah what I said.

Edit: No prob, Gary2346 , just glad it is a trend someone else agrees with.

Also, Baton Pass has more or less solidified itself as a viable and threatening team archetype, arguably even moreso than weather. It received nothing but buffs this generation: Scolipede easily snags the early game advantage with Speed Boost and possible Iron Defenses, while the introduction of Fairy-type made Dragon Tail completely ineffective against them while also giving them excellent resistances. And they just happened to give said typing to Mr. Mime, (Mega) Mawile, Togekiss and Sylveon, all very strong candidates on BP. This eases up a lot of teambuilding stress for BP teams that they had before, and the weather nerf certainly helped since there were less attacks that immediately / consistently threatened them. Baton Passers such as Zapdos, Gliscor, and Vaporeon can make up a solid defensive backbone while still having decent offensive presence. Magic Bounce + Stored Power Espeon is of course still an asshole. It's still not considered particularly unbeatable, but it has definitely established itself as a legitimate threat rather than a gimmick in this generation. When I looked the SPL stats, Scolipede was very rarely used in OU, but every single time it was it resulted in wins, so it can't be considered just flukes.
 
Last edited:
I can vouch for the wonders of Scolipede. He deals with most Hazard Leads thanks to a strong Megahorn, and is excellent at scouting. His main problem are annoying prankster leads, though, which are a major issue for BP teams in general barring well timed Espeon switches (instead of Baton Passes).
 
I'm an average player, usually around 1450-1550 on the ladder, so these view reflect what I see on that region.

I have noticed a gradual decline in talonflame usage. I have also noticed a little more stall, and definitely more teams running no mega. In my region of the ladder, hyper offense seems to be dropping for a more bulky offense. Mega venu and AV conk are EVERYWHERE, leading to me seeing HP Flying on Thundurus every now and then.
 
I'm sitting at around 1600, and have been noticing an upswing in a Mega manetric/Landoge volt turn core, which is very effective. Rotom-W is still ever present, but I've been seeing more Choice Scarf than ChestoRest, which I suspect is to take care of /burn Pinsir without taking heavy damage at the same time. Mega Scizor has started running Knock Off a bunch, presumably as an Aegislash counter. I'm actually noticing a lot of Knock Off stuff lately, it's probably the strongest move in the meta right now, being supportive and offensive at the same time.
 
Last edited:
MudcrabDL said:
I'm sitting at around 1600, and have been noticing an upswing in a Megaman/Landoge volt turn core, which is very effective. Rotom-W is still ever present, but I've been seeing more Choice Scarf than ChestoRest, which I suspect is to take care of /burn Pinsir without taking heavy damage at the same time. Mega Scizor has started running Knock Off a bunch, presumably as an Aegislash counter. I'm actually noticing a lot of Knock Off stuff lately, it's probably the strongest move in the meta right now, being supportive and offensive at the same time.
Click to expand...


sorry, megaman is what? pokemon i mean.

And yeah, trickscarf rotom is popular, and knock off is on the random landorus a lot more now too
 
For the HO playstyle, I've seen (and I'm also running) the trio of Deo-D, Bisharp, and Aegislash as a great offensive core. It seems that many HO teams employ as least two of these, but the majority runs at least a variant of this.

Deo-D is extremely reliable to lay down hazards while Bisharp punishes notion of Defog, and Aegislash (with an Air Balloon) can manhandle the almost every spinner. The amount of pressure these three create forces opposing teams to play out of their comfort zone and into a "back to the wall" type of style.
 
Let It Go said:
For the HO playstyle, I've seen (and I'm also running) the trio of Deo-D, Bisharp, and Aegislash as a great offensive core. It seems that many HO teams employ as least two of these, but the majority runs at least a variant of this.

Deo-D is extremely reliable to lay down hazards while Bisharp punishes notion of Defog, and Aegislash (with an Air Balloon) can manhandle the almost every spinner. The amount of pressure these three create forces opposing teams to play out of their comfort zone and into a "back to the wall" type of style.
Click to expand...

mandibuzz does a good job of shutting that core down, as long as it doesn't have too much prior damage and doesn't make the obvious defog
 
Wow this thread is already going to shit. Can we please stop talking about Cloyster, a Pokemon that is only seen on lower ladder and never used in higher competitive play? Let's talk about actual trends, not Pokemon that you've seen more on your 1200s ladder adventure.

Okay, I hope no one already talked about this because I fucked up with Thundy last time, but Zapdos has been getting a lot more usage these past few weeks. Although Zapdos was REALLY in its prime when Mega Lucario was still around, Zapdos still finds itself being slapped onto a lot of teams because of its outstanding defensive capabilities and support it provides to teams. Its Electric-typing makes it a great check to Mega Pinsir and Talonflame, and unlike Rotom-W it can't be easily worn down gradually overtime thanks to Roost. It's also a fantastic answer to Mega Gyarados, which is a very dangerous sweeper in today's metagame that has the advantage of getting past Rotom-W, which was normally one of its best counters. It can even check other prominent threats, such as Scizor, Excadrill, regular SD Lucario, and Bisharp with Heat Wave. Last but not least, Zapdos can even use Defog to get rid of entry hazards and allows it to switch in regularly without having to worry about its Stealth Rock weakness as much.

All in all, while Rotom-W is still a very prominent defensive Pokemon, Zapdos is beginning to give the washing machine a run for its money. Unlike Rotom-W, Zapdos is a MUCH more reliable answer to prominent threats in the OU metagame because of its reliable recovery, and on top of that Defog makes it a lot easier to fit onto teams because of the huge amount of support it brings.
 
I'm glad, that Zapdos is finally getting use, because it's really a great all-purpose glue Pokémon in this metagame. What's really great about Zapdos is that it's one of the few defoggers able to directly threaten Bisharp, making defog less risky. The threat of Heat Wave puts counterpressure against Bisharp's pressure against defoggers, a dynamic you can see in some higher-ranked matches. Being able to check Aegislash and Thundurus is great too, and something Rotom-W can't be asked to do.
 
I'm sorry, but why can't we talk about solid OU pokemon like Cloyster and Klefki but we can talk about niche UU pokemon like Zapdos?
And stop crapping all over Cloyster already, there are at least 4 other threads with solid arguments that support its effectiveness in the metagame, even on the high ladder.
 
Because "solid OU" matters not, when the usage stats are this broken. If anything, Zapdos should be the "solid OU" mon and not Cloyster and Klefki, going only by overall viability and effectiveness in higher-ladder matches.

And Zapdos is not that "niche", when it's directly checking vast swaths of the Most Wanted Threatlist in OU and clearing hazards without fear of Bisharp, all with reliable recovery too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top