Hlelo everyone, here is the long long awaited (Feen ) Necrozma suspect test! On the last RU survey, it was pretty clearly at the top of the voters' mind, and council agreed it was also worthy of the next suspect.
Necrozma was one of the big winners of the generational shift. Despite losing potential oomph in z-moves, the addition of Dragon Dance and Meteor Beam added a ton of versatility to its game. Dragon Dance made physical sets able to threaten offence more effectively, similarly Meteor Beam adds a dimension to rocks sets or rock polish that wasn't quite the same with z-move. However, CM sets and SD sets are as good as they have ever been on their own as well, as Necrozma also likes not having to get smacked by a strong z-move. All of this leads to a mon with very, very few counters, especially since people have started making their SD Necrozma able to beat Umbreon on the switch. Prism Armor is also an extremely useful ability in those scenarios, making it eat a hit from one of the few strong darks around and potentially able to hold off Golisopod with sufficient investment. This ability to hold off offensive pressure, coupled to multiple viable boosting sets and an ability to fit almost every possible play style make Necrozma a very concerning presence for the metagame, as it's super easy to use and sometimes very hard to guess what it will do.
Nevertheless, Necrozma is ofc not perfect. It has the right coverage for the metagame, but always potentially so: it obviously will not beat everything it wants to with any one set. Its bulk is outstanding for such a good sweeper, but sometimes cuts a little bit short vs strong breakers that don't quite need to hit supereffectively to do work. Its speed is also a little underwhelming, as dragon dance will almost always need two to outpace scarfers, which can be a bit tricky to get, and hitting just below Togekiss for any setup sweeper can lead to frustration. Despite also being the most versatile mon in the tier, Necrozma will not be seen with boots, leaving it more at risk to hazard chip than most of the metagame. It can of course be argued that these issues are more straightforward for the Necrozma user, while on the other hand building against Necrozma is more open to guesses, but it would be unfair to not pretend those issues exist
So is it finally time to ban Necrozma, nearly half a decade after its first - and... only? - appearance on a RU voting slate? It's up to you to decide! Tagging Kris and Marty to announce it on the RU ladder, thank you both!
| GXE | minimum games |
| 78 | 50 |
| 78.2 | 49 |
| 78.4 | 48 |
| 78.6 | 47 |
| 78.8 | 46 |
| 79 | 45 |
| 79.2 | 44 |
| 79.4 | 43 |
| 79.6 | 42 |
| 79.8 | 41 |
| 80 | 40 |
| 80.2 | 39 |
| 80.4 | 38 |
| 80.6 | 37 |
| 80.8 | 36 |
| 81 | 35 |
| 81.2 | 34 |
| 81.4 | 33 |
| 81.6 | 32 |
| 81.8 | 31 |
| 82 | 30 |
- There will be no draws allowed for any potential qualifiers. If you qualify with draws, your suspect requirements will not count and you will not be allowed to vote. There is no way to actively enforce ties to prevent abuse, so they will be disallowed. Use stall at your own risk.
- All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! RU ladder on a new alt with the following format: "RUN3 (nickname)”. For example, RUN3 Reuni?? or RUN3 sdcmmb
- Do NOT impersonate other people in your ladder alt, do NOT use any usernames which are offensive, flame-baiting, or targeting specific users, and do NOT use usernames which could be interpreted as breaking any of the username rules on Pokemon Showdown! Failure to abide to this will result in you being barred from voting in this suspect, and potential infractions.
- The suspect test will last for two weeks, ending on Sunday, February 6th. 11pm - 5
Happy laddering!
