Hlelo everyone, after some discussions the Council has agreed to suspect Durant. While we again never had agreement for a quicker method, having this public suspect is the expected way and hasn't been met with dissent so here we go.
Durant, as seen in the previous threads, has started to do what it does again and again in RU, slowly creeping to the forefront of the metagame as one of the most difficult threats to play around. Starting near the end of Open we saw Durant on some teams already performing extremely well, and through RULT and the following weeks we saw more talk about it and more agreement about it being a problem in the metagame. Despite this somewhat late acknowledgement, Durant in itself does nothing hardly different from previous iterations. Its hustle-boosted attacks, while inaccurate, are ridiculously strong, and Durant always had coverage to deal with specific countermeasures, like Rock Slide or Crunch as odr alluded to in the past thread. However, Durant in the past was always slightly conflicted in roles, having to equip a Choice Scarf to neatly check more offensive builds. While it was always a good set, it often paled in comparison to Choice Band or, especially in SM, boosting sets. Gen 8 renders that almost irrelevant with the addition of First Impression, making Durant extremely difficult to deal with as it now can plausibly revenge large swats of the metagame while still being able to boost its power with CB / LO.
But Durant, again like always, is not without flaws. Gen 8 offers a ton of potential pivoting options making its life easier coming in, but Durant often carried a stigma of being a risky steel to build around for many teams due to its immense frailty, upon which missing a ko - or just straight up missing - can end up with devastating consequences for its impact in a game. As such, its usage has been remarkably low this generation, only 2.894% (good for 58th) this past month on the ladder. The previous month with RULT in full swing, it was 54th at 3.165%, While sure, ladder usage is not everything, Durant was safely hitting above 10% and a top 10 mon in its last RU ban, plus players in tours have been decidedly more split and we've had a circuit tour played on that ladder in this timeframe. Is it too early for this vote? Is it really that easy to fit on teams and make progress with? If it was, shouldn't it be reflected in usage more? I have my own opinions on this, obviously seeing my history, but others might not necessarily come to my conclusion and it's worth thinking about.
So there you have it, is Durant once again too strong for RU? Is its impact overbearing both in play and in the builder, or does its lack of consistent performance still too significant to vote ban? It's up to you now! 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: "RUD5 (nickname)”. For example, RUD5 Hustle or RUD5 YNOTREUN
- 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 Saturday, September 11th, 23:59 EDT (edit: it's actually nine days yes, reasoning is to have the suspect results before week 2 of SCL if possible while still giving a reasonable timeframe with long weekend and part of another)
Happy laddering!
Last edited:
