Metagame Nature Swap

[EvelynIsBased]

On another note- a stupid tech that I’ve been running do NOT let me into the kitchen

Burnt Food

80/70/110/140/110/60
lava lamp (Iron Moth) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 120 HP / 136 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Wave
- Fiery Dance
- Psychic
- Morning Sun

THATS RIGHT BULKY MOTH. This set is SO gimmicky but SO fun. Poison/Fire is a shockingly good defensive typing- yes you are weak to Rock, Water and Psychic + that crippling quad Ground weakness, but you also resist common offensive types in Fighting, Poison, Steel, Fire and Ice + quad resist Bug, Grass and most importantly Fairy. 80/110/110 bulk is nothing to scoff at, and even uninvested base 140 spatk still hits hard, especially after you get a lucky +1 spatk from fiery dance. Take a look at some calcs:

vs
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 120 HP / 136+ Def Iron Moth: 79-94 (23.8 - 28.3%) -- 95.3% chance to 4HKO

&

252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 120 HP / 136+ Def Tera Water Iron Moth: 147-174 (44.4 - 52.5%) -- 19.9% chance to 2HKO

&

+1 0 SpA Iron Moth Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 430-508 (115.9 - 136.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

vs
252 Atk Avalugg Stone Edge vs. 120 HP / 136+ Def Iron Moth: 150-178 (45.3 - 53.7%) -- 38.7% chance to 2HKO

&

0 SpA Iron Moth Fiery Dance vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Avalugg: 422-498 (107.1 - 126.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

~~~

But what about the special attacker matchup????

vs
+2 252 SpA Spectrier Shadow Ball vs. 120 HP / 252 SpD Iron Moth: 195-229 (58.9 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

&

+1 0 SpA Iron Moth Fiery Dance vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Spectrier: 208-246 (60.8 - 71.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

vs :Moltres-hisui:
+1 252 SpA Moltres-Galar Fiery Wrath vs. 120 HP / 252 SpD Iron Moth: 136-162 (41 - 48.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

&

+1 0 SpA Iron Moth Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Moltres-Galar: 225-265 (70 - 82.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

~~~

Overall, bulky moth is quite good imho. The surprise factor is a big part of that (which will disappear as I post this and as we get nature reveal), but overall it works very well. The sun matchup is EXCELLENT because of sun boosted fiery dances as well as hUGE morning sun heals. Tera water* and almost nothing on sun can stop you after a +1 spatk boost. Peace ✌︎︎

*if y’all can think of a better tera type lmk

Bulk Moth is actually so good I agree, I think it'll still carry a niche (though a smaller one) even once Nature Reveal Clause is passed, it's typing, though bad, offers some really nice resistances in this Meta. I think it's Utility movepool is better than utilizing all those offensive moves, but it's still great no matter what, sets I've ran have been these 3:

https://pokepast.es/25503c08d8fa8008

I'd generally say Tera Psychic is nice for wiping Tusks, and Tera Dragon is nice for only opening yourself up to a few typings, while dropping a lot of weaknesses. Especially if you're using it alongside Mola like you would with the AV set for consistent regen and big bulk, it's nice since you'll resist Electric, Fire (still nice for sun too!), Grass, and even Water, which is great for swapping in on Volcanions and chipping them down, since they're such a burden to Mola teams. 200 Speed beats +SpD -Spe Tusks as well so you can Tox them or just U-Turn out.

 

[pixelpenguin]

Enamorus @ Life Orb
Ability: Contrary
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Earth Power
- Healing Wish
Been having lots of fun with Fast Enam. The speed tier is really nice and the coverage is crazy. Have yet to click Healing Wish but idk what else I would put there. Earth Power is unexpectedly very helpful still, against stuff like Pecharunt and Arch who would wall you otherwise.

Blaziken @ Air Balloon
Ability: Speed Boost
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Protect
- Swords Dance
Blaziken also feels amazing with the added speed. This is what the mon should feel like, 80 speed is actually ridiculously slow. Air Balloon gives it lots of setup opportunities in front of stuff like Lando. It's also nice to be able to protect once and revenge kill a threat.

 

[Drengr]

Neutral natures don’t do anything. I understand that every graph has all the neutral natures agreeing on the same stats, but I can’t find a real, in-game source for this. I’d love for neutral natures to boost stats, so if anyone can show me where this originated from I’m sure that as long as it was in a mainline game it could be done.

There's no official confirmation on whether or not it's true, it's more or less just a community wide educated guess based on a few things.

1.) There are 5 neutral natures, which just so happens to be the same number of stats that can get increased/decreased by natures, and to kind of piggyback off of this, if it was truly a neutral nature, i.e. just a 1x multiplier, there would be no reason to have more than one.

2.) There are a total of 25 natures, and again 5 stats that can be increased/decreased, which points towards each stat increase having a combination with each stat decrease (basically just 5 stats that can be increased multiplied by 5 stats that can be decreased, for 25 unique combinations, which would be the natures).

I understand this probably isn't good enough "evidence" to warrant a straight 10% increase to a stat with no downside, and that's fine I just wanted to know if that's how it was implemented.

Sorry for kind of dancing around the question, but there is no definitive way to know without an official statement or looking at the code, for all we know the natures could be mixed up, and Hardy actually increases and decreases speed, or it could really just be 5 1x multipliers.

 

[Allidoishuynh]

Hey, why is regieleki banned in nature swap? I feel like a solid number of mons have access to insanely high offensive stats and a lot of scarfers are faster than it since it can't run timid

 

[prunyy]

Neutral natures don’t do anything. I understand that every graph has all the neutral natures agreeing on the same stats, but I can’t find a real, in-game source for this. I’d love for neutral natures to boost stats, so if anyone can show me where this originated from I’m sure that as long as it was in a mainline game it could be done.

In Generations 3 and 4 the Pokemon Identification value that determines stuff like IVs, Ability, and Natures kinda answers this. (Other gens have the Nature in a different value)

Basically there's a value from the ID that determines the nature, a value from 0-24. This value is specifically ordered by a choosing a stat from each set: (+Atk, +Def, +Spe, +SpA, +SpD) * (-Atk, -Def, -Spe, -SpA, -SpD) to determine which value gets corresponded to which nature. Value 0 (+Atk, -Atk) is corresponded with Hardy in the code, value 1 (+Atk, -Def) is corresponded with Lonely , value 2 (+Atk, -Spe) is corresponded with Brave, value 5 (+Def, -Atk) is corresponded with Bold, etc. all the way to value 24 (+SpD, -SpD) which is corresponded with Quirky in the code. Hence, neutral natures could be inferred to actually raise and drop the same stat.

Link if you wanna read

I believe the way it is coded in the games, however, is that they do not actually lower and increase the same stat and are hard coded to do nothing.

Hey, why is regieleki banned in nature swap? I feel like a solid number of mons have access to insanely high offensive stats and a lot of scarfers are faster than it since it can't run timid

Firing off base 200 Atk Extreme Speeds is quite insane (which could be enhanced by Tera Normal). It also gets pretty much unresisted STAB after Tera Ice. Even without Tera to abuse it was still watchlisted in Gen 8.

 

[ZarbyXar]

https://pokepast.es/984c828e80d6f4f0
Anything I might need to change?

 

[BandedBodyPress]

https://pokepast.es/984c828e80d6f4f0
Anything I might need to change?

Only obvious thing to me is that I would put rocks on Torkoal over clear smog, and you should probably do the 4 evs on Gambit and Torkoal.

 

[Jasper Crow]

(80/110/60/150/70/130)
Add in some choice specs and go 3 attacks + trick and you have something much of the meta can't stand up to. Or throw on a scarf and outspeed basically the entire meta, while still firing off from 150 SpA. Could also run a life orb and just be the fastest wallbreaker ever seen.

Can also go physical with (80/110/60/70/130/150) to be a super fast and relatively specially bulky physical attacker. Or it could go (80/60/110/150/130/70) on the few trickroom teams I've seen cropping up. Honestly I just think its flexibility is huge and the number of sets you could be running make it very difficult for opponents to even begin to guess what you are running, and if you loose the coinflip your whole team can just get nuked out of existence. I've swept multiple teams with this thing.

(150/65/115/65/110/35)
I've found this guy pretty much needed with all of the dozens of different setup sweepers currently plaguing the tier. And as stands its easily our best unaware user. Add in a standard curse rest-talk set and tera fairy and this thing switches in on juuuuuust about anything you need it to.

(95/36/184/34/127/38)
A hell of a spinner in this format. Add in recover and rocks and body press and you still remain decently threatening to anything that isn't a ghost. Really really really wants your tera, but actually doesn't always need it. Even with its weaknesses the sheer bulk on display here gives you tons of leeway to recover off damage. Not sure if its any good overall, but its a hell of a meme.

 

[Crep50]

ok i like the bulky havalugg set, very funny

Anyways here’s a mon that does that better (IMO), with less weaknesses and the best singular type against kyurem (freeze dry moment)

The Grand Reveal

(95/46/184/44/117/28)
The future present is pretty cool, eh?

Running bulky, having a second STAB stops mattering, since you rely on body press anyways. So why not shed 10 SpDef and 10 Speed in favour of dropping that secondary rock typing? Same moves as you gave though - recover, BP, Rapid Spin, Curse/ID. If Curse, you might be able to afford Crunch, but that ends up leeching into recover so.

 

[Jasper Crow]

ok i like the bulky havalugg set, very funny

Anyways here’s a mon that does that better (IMO), with less weaknesses and the best singular type against kyurem (freeze dry moment)

The Grand Reveal

(95/46/184/44/117/28)
The future present is pretty cool, eh?

Running bulky, having a second STAB stops mattering, since you rely on body press anyways. So why not shed 10 SpDef and 10 Speed in favour of dropping that secondary rock typing? Same moves as you gave though - recover, BP, Rapid Spin, Curse/ID. If Curse, you might be able to afford Crunch, but that ends up leeching into recover so.

Honestly I tried it and i find I always end up prefering rocks to a boosting move. I really think as the meta goes on we're gonna be moving away from boosting in response to stuff like Dozo. But you're probably right that dropping the rock typing for 10 less SpDef is worth it.

On a related note to everything being HO, I think there is an honest call for Sticky Webs ala Ubers. I don't even think there is much worthwhile for swapping its stats either, I just think sticky web is that valuable that having it on a mon this fast. I've been swapping either SpA with def just for little bit of extra survivabilty or leaving it with a nuetral nature. But seeing as I've settled on a focus sash for it to guarantee webs going up I've also settled on a nuetral nature.

 

[Crep50]

The issue with ribombee is that its mostly outclassed by a certain 132 SpDef Spider.
On that topic - Naive is imo the best araquanid swap, as It already hits as hard as it needs to with 70 attack and what’s effectively huge power, and 132+ Speed is an amazing speed tier to hit, creeping non-booster tusk. resisting both fighting and ground, as well as ice (ice spinner) is also really strong into Tusk, and uh. It can do this.
252 Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Liquidation vs. 0 HP / 4 Def (Base 87) Great Tusk: 414-488 (111.5 - 131.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
On top of taking 48% Max from Knock Off
252 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Araquanid: 114-135 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

132 Attack and 132 SpA are (imo) much less useful, as they don’t fix araquanids issue of being slow and shockingly frail. I will mention that patching up it’s bug power is quite nice, though, so Attack/Special Attack swaps aren’t completely useless.

Thats about all the thoughts i have rn

 

[Candylandbelatrix]

I wanna talk about alomomola for a sec:
-it can switch into almost any mon
-It can make a lot of momentum with just flip turn
-It could also stall something or heal your team with wish

Usually its balanced with its subpar 45 spdef that can be exploited but in this tier with a nature like calm it can make its spdef almost as high as its defense making it not nearly as vulnerable to special attacks as in ou or other tiers. Now, it doesnt sound like a huge problem because its a lot more passive than other broken mons like kyurem or flutter was but consider the following:

-There is little risk on switching it into a mon you dont die by 2 attacks, wich now is almost the whole metagame that dont hit it with stab super effective damage.
-There is a huge payout on flip turn momentum, and wish passing also is pretty good if you can afford
-The only real conterplay to a alo switch in is switching in a super effective mon, wich if the opponent flip turned wich usually theres low reason not to you are aways in the back foot or switching in a water absorb/storm drain mon.

Of course this doesnt sound tremendous, but the added survivability usually means that whenever this thing is in, theres a high chance its a scenario of low risk high reward, with the conterplay being very limited.

Best counters* (from my experience):
Ogerpon wellspring
-imune to water
-just dunks on this thing

Archaludon
-likes +1 defense from flip turn
-might not like what comes in
-should be banned anyways

Volcanion
-imune to water
-can't do crap to the big fish

Other niche water absorb/storm drain mons
-usually are ass and you are using them to counter this, in wich case just use waterpon


Best checks* (from my experience):
Things that setup
-special landorus, hoopa gremling, archaludon with electroshot are very threatening to this mon *if* they are already in, but the way it goes they are probably gonna eat a flip turn and have a mon that checks them switch in

Serperior
-Usually kills most sets if the alo is already damaged, gets a boost in the switch in and might keep momentum going.

Alomomola
-speed ties on flip turn to see who goes first or last:
If one of the players have a water absorb guy they wanna go first
If not, both wanna go last

Super effective guys
-You need them active to actually matter in this matchup
-No alo switches into them anyways

I didnt save my replays because i just bloody forget but not once not twice but 3 or 4 times games of mine ended with alomomolas in both teams alive and another mon wich couldnt break thru it, so they went way longer than they should, and while that could happen in normal ou, its a lot more of a common scenario when it has real spdef.

Some random calcs from my alomomola set that i made while playing (its calm):

speed 252 SpA Regice Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 170-202 (31.8 - 37.8%) -- 91.1% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Volcanion Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 102-121 (19.1 - 22.6%) -- possible 5HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Horn Leech vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 260-308 (48.6 - 57.6%) -- 94.9% chance to 2HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 416-492 (77.9 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 207-244 (38.7 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 195-231 (36.5 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Avalugg-Hisui Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 210-245 (39.3 - 45.8%) -- approx. 3HKO

136 base atk 252 Atk Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 135-159 (25.2 - 29.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 186-219 (34.8 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 438-516 (82 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

140 base spatk 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola in Sun: 441-519 (82.5 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 306-360 (57.3 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That last one was just for fun lolz

Anyways, tldr;
too hard to break thru, too specific real counterplay for too much of a advantage it gives.
Currently probably a top 2 pokemon just below archaludon.

Evidence that i know how to play the game sometimes:

Some alomomola sets that could work and keep the opponent guessing your bulk EVEN THO they know your nature:
https://pokepast.es/d2f9c9502c07c470
(that is excluding the fact you could run different sets like alluring voice to punish set up sweepers, healing wish, calm mind, whatever)

Thats all i have to say i think, love the tier, long live ttar

 

[Schpoonman]

I wanna talk about alomomola for a sec:
-it can switch into almost any mon
-It can make a lot of momentum with just flip turn
-It could also stall something or heal your team with wish

Usually its balanced with its subpar 45 spdef that can be exploited but in this tier with a nature like calm it can make its spdef almost as high as its defense making it not nearly as vulnerable to special attacks as in ou or other tiers. Now, it doesnt sound like a huge problem because its a lot more passive than other broken mons like kyurem or flutter was but consider the following:

-There is little risk on switching it into a mon you dont die by 2 attacks, wich now is almost the whole metagame that dont hit it with stab super effective damage.
-There is a huge payout on flip turn momentum, and wish passing also is pretty good if you can afford
-The only real conterplay to a alo switch in is switching in a super effective mon, wich if the opponent flip turned wich usually theres low reason not to you are aways in the back foot or switching in a water absorb/storm drain mon.

Of course this doesnt sound tremendous, but the added survivability usually means that whenever this thing is in, theres a high chance its a scenario of low risk high reward, with the conterplay being very limited.

Best counters* (from my experience):
Ogerpon wellspring
-imune to water
-just dunks on this thing

Archaludon
-likes +1 defense from flip turn
-might not like what comes in
-should be banned anyways

Volcanion
-imune to water
-can't do crap to the big fish

Other niche water absorb/storm drain mons
-usually are ass and you are using them to counter this, in wich case just use waterpon


Best checks* (from my experience):
Things that setup
-special landorus, hoopa gremling, archaludon with electroshot are very threatening to this mon *if* they are already in, but the way it goes they are probably gonna eat a flip turn and have a mon that checks them switch in

Serperior
-Usually kills most sets if the alo is already damaged, gets a boost in the switch in and might keep momentum going.

Alomomola
-speed ties on flip turn to see who goes first or last:
If one of the players have a water absorb guy they wanna go first
If not, both wanna go last

Super effective guys
-You need them active to actually matter in this matchup
-No alo switches into them anyways

I didnt save my replays because i just bloody forget but not once not twice but 3 or 4 times games of mine ended with alomomolas in both teams alive and another mon wich couldnt break thru it, so they went way longer than they should, and while that could happen in normal ou, its a lot more of a common scenario when it has real spdef.

Some random calcs from my alomomola set that i made while playing (its calm):

speed 252 SpA Regice Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 170-202 (31.8 - 37.8%) -- 91.1% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Volcanion Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 102-121 (19.1 - 22.6%) -- possible 5HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Horn Leech vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 260-308 (48.6 - 57.6%) -- 94.9% chance to 2HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 416-492 (77.9 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 207-244 (38.7 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 195-231 (36.5 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Avalugg-Hisui Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 210-245 (39.3 - 45.8%) -- approx. 3HKO

136 base atk 252 Atk Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 135-159 (25.2 - 29.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 186-219 (34.8 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 438-516 (82 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

140 base spatk 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola in Sun: 441-519 (82.5 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 306-360 (57.3 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That last one was just for fun lolz

Anyways, tldr;
too hard to break thru, too specific real counterplay for too much of a advantage it gives.
Currently probably a top 2 pokemon just below archaludon.

Evidence that i know how to play the game sometimes:
View attachment 703277

Some alomomola sets that could work and keep the opponent guessing your bulk EVEN THO they know your nature:
https://pokepast.es/d2f9c9502c07c470
(that is excluding the fact you could run different sets like alluring voice to punish set up sweepers, healing wish, calm mind, whatever)

Thats all i have to say i think, love the tier, long live ttar

Great write-up, just want to add Mirror Coat to the smorgasbord. With Alo living way more SpAttacks than it normally it does it can leverage its big HP extra hard and just remove an answer, then switch out to bring its HP back up afterwards.

 

[Raoul Sanchez]

I feel crazy. Am i the only one that thinks kingambit is too strong in this OM. Most people just run hasty for 120 speed. Fast kingambit is a nightmare as it was already a late game cleaner before this OM. Now it just SDs on a mon with a positive match up and fallen 5 gambit just beats everything down.

 

[DeepFriedMagikarp]

You should run fire spin + taunt on volcanion so you can actually beat it

 

[Jasper Crow]

Any idea when the banlist is getting updated on Showdown? Just fought someone using a Flutter Mane because they had no idea it was banned, which ain't on them when the teambuilder is just like "It's all good chief".

Also any timeline on that nature reveal clause? If the showdown sim doesn't get updated to accommodate this meta we'll probably not be able to pick up people very easily. Which would be a bummer because this is a super interesting meta.

 

[Jasper Crow]

Alright thats the 7th team in a row on the ladder spamming flutter mane and/or gouging fire because the server hasn't been updated. I think everyone should take a break from this format until its actually getting updated on the only simulator where its possible

 

[Raoul Sanchez]

Alright thats the 7th team in a row on the ladder spamming flutter mane and/or gouging fire because the server hasn't been updated. I think everyone should take a break from this format until its actually getting updated on the only simulator where its possible

Nat swap changes are live

 

[Uninteleon]

a post about fast ice types

Regiceleki (Regice) @ Life Orb/Heavy Duty Boots/Choice Specs
Ability: Clear Body
Tera Type: Electric/Ground/Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast/Tera Blast (If Fighting/Ground)
- Charge Beam/Thunder Wave

(80/50/100/100/50/200)

This guy is pretty fucking great, clear body lets u become immune to webs from . Ive used Regielekice a few times in my games and its proven to be one of the most useful offensive answers on the team. 200 speed, as seen from is... a really good speed tier to be in. Tera elec/ground is just to be stronger, tera fighting lets u resist a sucker from and lets u OHKO it back with a tera blast/focus blast. Charge beam is just to get a little bit of strength on a weakened mon like an or a , and T Wave is for utility on anything that manages to eat hits from you.

unga bunga boltbeam coverage goes crazy too

Glastrier @ Heavy-Duty Boots/Choice Band
Ability: Chilling Neigh
Tera Type: Ice/Fighting/Ground/Electric
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Close Combat
- High Horsepower/Tera Blast (If Electric)
- Swords Dance/Crunch or whatever

(100/130/30/65/110/130)

I haven't really seen this guy much, but he definitely seems like he can do something on the right team.

Avalugg-Hisui @ Heavy-Duty Boots/Loaded Dice
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Ice/Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Mountain Gale/Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge/Rock Blast
- Rapid Spin

(95/127/38/34/36/184)

This guy, on the other hand, is really good. I think everybody's seen one by now, and knows how hard one is to actually kill. HDB lets you keep sturdy for whatever you want it for, while LD lets you have stronger STABs in icicle spear and rock blast. IMO, the only thing holding this mon back is accuracy, otherwise it could probably destroy nearly every team with ease.

also suspect tera its really strong on

EDIT:

Baxcalibur @ Choice Specs/Choice Scarf
Ability: Thermal Exchange
Tera Type: Ground/Fighting
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Freeze-Dry
- Tera Blast
- Ice Shard

(115/75/92/145/86/87)

not fast but this guy is really cool too and deals a lot of dmg and can beat donbozo

 

[Crep50]

I have had yet another Naive water spider innovation. The final big brain play, the magnum opus of bugs. And this time, it’s to help against the Volcanion Matchup.

Skitter Smack.

The idea is simple: just call out the switch in, and drive it’s special attack into the ground. You outspeed hasty, and mild doesn’t change the defense or special attack anyways. -1 Volcanion isnt dealing nearly as much damage as it normally does, and you can then switch to a much more reliable check, now with a stronger matchup since Volc’s at -1.
Also gives it dual STAB that helps chip water resists, though base 70 attack here (Set below has 217 final) is a noticeable tradeoff in damage.

Araquanid @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Water Bubble
Tera Type: Water/Dragon/Steel
EVs: 164 Atk / 96 SpD / 248 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Liquidation
- Sticky Web
- Entrainment
- Skitter Smack

248+ Spe and 164 Atk to Outspeed and OHKO (Non-Booster) Hasty Great Tusk (0 HP / 4 Def), and 96 SpD just to improve your special bulk (has better calcs than 96 HP). Tera Water to nuke shit and just have a better defensive type, Dragon to resist grass, electric, and water, on top of quad resisting fire, or Steel to help against Hurricane or general Rock coverage, as well as potential Volcanion sludge bombs.
Note that Tera Steel does lose to steam eruption after the fact, so you sacrifice a lot of the Volc matchup in favour of general resistance shifting.

Now that I’ve “perfected” the bug (prolly not lmao) it’s time to think of how to actually make a working team.

 

[Pipotchi]

I wanna talk about alomomola for a sec:
-it can switch into almost any mon
-It can make a lot of momentum with just flip turn
-It could also stall something or heal your team with wish

Usually its balanced with its subpar 45 spdef that can be exploited but in this tier with a nature like calm it can make its spdef almost as high as its defense making it not nearly as vulnerable to special attacks as in ou or other tiers. Now, it doesnt sound like a huge problem because its a lot more passive than other broken mons like kyurem or flutter was but consider the following:

-There is little risk on switching it into a mon you dont die by 2 attacks, wich now is almost the whole metagame that dont hit it with stab super effective damage.
-There is a huge payout on flip turn momentum, and wish passing also is pretty good if you can afford
-The only real conterplay to a alo switch in is switching in a super effective mon, wich if the opponent flip turned wich usually theres low reason not to you are aways in the back foot or switching in a water absorb/storm drain mon.

Of course this doesnt sound tremendous, but the added survivability usually means that whenever this thing is in, theres a high chance its a scenario of low risk high reward, with the conterplay being very limited.

Best counters* (from my experience):
Ogerpon wellspring
-imune to water
-just dunks on this thing

Archaludon
-likes +1 defense from flip turn
-might not like what comes in
-should be banned anyways

Volcanion
-imune to water
-can't do crap to the big fish

Other niche water absorb/storm drain mons
-usually are ass and you are using them to counter this, in wich case just use waterpon


Best checks* (from my experience):
Things that setup
-special landorus, hoopa gremling, archaludon with electroshot are very threatening to this mon *if* they are already in, but the way it goes they are probably gonna eat a flip turn and have a mon that checks them switch in

Serperior
-Usually kills most sets if the alo is already damaged, gets a boost in the switch in and might keep momentum going.

Alomomola
-speed ties on flip turn to see who goes first or last:
If one of the players have a water absorb guy they wanna go first
If not, both wanna go last

Super effective guys
-You need them active to actually matter in this matchup
-No alo switches into them anyways

I didnt save my replays because i just bloody forget but not once not twice but 3 or 4 times games of mine ended with alomomolas in both teams alive and another mon wich couldnt break thru it, so they went way longer than they should, and while that could happen in normal ou, its a lot more of a common scenario when it has real spdef.

Some random calcs from my alomomola set that i made while playing (its calm):

speed 252 SpA Regice Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 170-202 (31.8 - 37.8%) -- 91.1% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Volcanion Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 102-121 (19.1 - 22.6%) -- possible 5HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Horn Leech vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 260-308 (48.6 - 57.6%) -- 94.9% chance to 2HKO

attack swapped with speed+ 252 Atk Wellspring Mask Ogerpon-Wellspring Power Whip vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 416-492 (77.9 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Gholdengo Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 207-244 (38.7 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 195-231 (36.5 - 43.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

speed 252 Atk Avalugg-Hisui Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 210-245 (39.3 - 45.8%) -- approx. 3HKO

136 base atk 252 Atk Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 135-159 (25.2 - 29.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 Atk Supreme Overlord 3 allies fainted Kingambit Kowtow Cleave vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Alomomola: 186-219 (34.8 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Serperior Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 438-516 (82 - 96.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

140 base spatk 252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola in Sun: 441-519 (82.5 - 97.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Chi-Yu Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 88+ SpD Alomomola: 306-360 (57.3 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
That last one was just for fun lolz

Anyways, tldr;
too hard to break thru, too specific real counterplay for too much of a advantage it gives.
Currently probably a top 2 pokemon just below archaludon.

Evidence that i know how to play the game sometimes:
View attachment 703277

Some alomomola sets that could work and keep the opponent guessing your bulk EVEN THO they know your nature:
https://pokepast.es/d2f9c9502c07c470
(that is excluding the fact you could run different sets like alluring voice to punish set up sweepers, healing wish, calm mind, whatever)

Thats all i have to say i think, love the tier, long live ttar

I think the fish is doing a lot of good work to hold the tier together, but it is obviously also one of the best mons and I think its justified to make a post on it.
Like you said its offering quite a few scary options. Scald, Chilling Water, Alluring voice, Mirror Coat all are pretty annoying for its answers. The Mirror Coat stuff feels the most scary because very few things are ohkoing this on the special side, and you feel pressured to hit it before it does its Wishpass shenanigans for free- if you go all in and run AV fish (which I think is super underrated) then it'll be eating some of the most insane special attacks, and getting ohkos back. I think part of why I think I found it positive for the tier is that I havent ran into many scary versions, with most ppl doing the standard OU set.

 

[ZarbyXar]

I think the fish is doing a lot of good work to hold the tier together, but it is obviously also one of the best mons and I think its justified to make a post on it.
Like you said its offering quite a few scary options. Scald, Chilling Water, Alluring voice, Mirror Coat all are pretty annoying for its answers. The Mirror Coat stuff feels the most scary because very few things are ohkoing this on the special side, and you feel pressured to hit it before it does its Wishpass shenanigans for free- if you go all in and run AV fish (which I think is super underrated) then it'll be eating some of the most insane special attacks, and getting ohkos back. I think part of why I think I found it positive for the tier is that I havent ran into many scary versions, with most ppl doing the standard OU set.

Could you explain what exactly makes alomamola good for the tier?

 

[BandedBodyPress]

Could you explain what exactly makes alomamola good for the tier?

It's very easy. It's the most consistent defensive pivot, but where it really becomes unique is its Wish Passing.

The argument for it is that is allows your Pokemon to not be down and out from one misplay, or losing a read due to shenanigans, which Terastalization contributes towards. It can very easily switch into other Pokemon and switch back out into a better matchup. Hazard stack particularly is a problem in this regard. Defog being removed on many Pokemon and Gholdengo is the worst part of gen 9, allowing for easy chip with the right tools, particularly Knocking Off Heavy Duty Boots. Alomomola improves this matchup, giving your other Pokemon healing and more longevity to deal with this. It's balanced out by often being weak to it, where repeated switch ins after its Boots are gone will quickly wittle it down. This is its biggest weakness, but I also have to mention that Water Absorbers prevent it from slow pivoting, and hard switches are much more exploitable for its gameplan.

Where its unhealthy is that there are games where they are characterized by who gets rid of Mola first, the longevity it provides is so instrumental that a team that should have Mola that has now lost it is much more finite, especially when it exhausts itself against a Mola team. Conversely, there are games where it's Mola v Mola and that's a very slow and deliberate process, which come down to who has a Pokemon other than Mola left first, where it comes down to maybe Regen switching, burning, and PP stalling Wish. Mola's main issue to the tier is that same longevity it provides. What I mean to say is that there are Pokemon that your team might just have to slowly make progress on through ways of combined effort and chip damage. Mola makes that gameplan kind of meaningless. Rocky Helmet chip, hazards, maybe status or weather chip, might be your way of dealing with a Pokemon in the long-term. Alomomola cuts out the long term, and on the right team can hammer out its other match up weaknesses.

Where my opinion comes into play is that I think its pros outweigh its cons. Pokemon lasting longer than they rightfull would in OU is not a flaw to me. It brings stally game mechanics into teams that aren't stall in a generation which can't support stall. Alomomola's gameplan allows for certain Pokemon to have a second chance to have a greater importance where they otherwise would be strategic sacks.

 

[Pipotchi]

Could you explain what exactly makes alomamola good for the tier?

Pretty much what BPP said, having more safe midground mons in a tier full of millions of pure offensive threats can help Balance teams exist and also it does have sizeable counterplay- if you go for the set with mixed defenses you have no offensive capabilities at all and that makes Substitute on pretty much any sweeper a free setup opportunity. Taunt can shut down its team support and even without those two its relying on its teammates, abusing your mistake with Mirror Coat, or rolling a Scald burn, so its not reliable for it to beat sweepers 1v1. But yea I think its gluing together a lot of teams providing a defensive backbone vs a wide range of offensive threats, and although it provides lots of generic counterplay its still easy to find viable specific mons that pressure and beat it, if you need to.

 

[Pipotchi]

Double post but I fear I may have cooked with some of these sets


Toucannon @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Skill Link
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 224 Def
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Encore
- Bullet Seed / U-turn
- Beak Blast

Toucannon is already an Uber level threat just on looks alone, but here it can also perhaps be useful competitively. Beak Blast is a cool move and 80/120 physdef is pretty good! Bullet Seed has a 70% chance to ohko Avalugg-H, and Encore can abuse mons that want to avoid Beak Blast by continuing to boost. Normal type is not bad at the moment, and could maybe be a Spectrier midground to Encore it at least.


Walking Wake @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Flip Turn
- Draco Meteor
- Hydro Steam
- Knock Off

Now for an actually good set: Ive been using this a LOT and I think its pretty formidable. Its basically like AV Primarina pivot in OU, but you have way more bulk on both sides, higher BP attacks and very useful Knock Off. Draco Meteor can encourage Glowking to come in, and it'll hate being knocked off- meanwhile having a double resist to Fire is great (Torkoal) and a double resist to Water is also great (Araquanid). In Sun, your spdef becomes wild.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fire Torkoal Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Protosynthesis Walking Wake in Sun: 48-57 (11.9 - 14.1%) -- Get Ignored Noob
252+ SpA Choice Specs Araquanid Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Protosynthesis Walking Wake: 85-102 (21.1 - 25.3%) -- Try Again
And with Sassy, you remain powerful enough to threaten the tier with great coverage Draco + Hydro Steam. Good mon!


Talonflame @ Choice Specs
Ability: Gale Wings
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Flamethrower
- Roost
- Air Slash

I didnt invent this, but Ive seen it around and its just as strong as in GotG. 126 SpA is just demolishing all things under Rain, and you're really trying to just catch it out with a Tera or force it out with a faster priority guy after each kill it gets. It hates rocks but if you can keep them off, the nuclear Tera Flying Hurricanes will ignore resists and collect kills. Please dont use this because I dont wanna see it


Alomomola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Flip Turn
- Mirror Coat
- Scald
- Alluring Voice / Icy Wind

I think ppl should try some AV mola. Its moves are really annoying, and Mirror Coat is gunna catch out special attackers not expecting titanic bulk. Alluring Voice is annoying for sweepers, and Icy Wind makes mons a lot easier to rk for teammates (you still probably underspeed with flip turn so no worries there)