Something I didn't really touch much on in my initial post about my thoughts on the Isle of Armor changes came heavily in part to the moves. Despite how on the surface, things don't particularly seem like they've changed too much, I would like to discuss a few of these moves and give my thoughts on how I think they'll affect the metagame.
1: Flip Turn
Our resident waters all now have access to a pivoting move, giving them valuable momentum in the face of adversity. On the surface, this doesn't seem like too big of a problem, as Flip Turn itself is a relatively standard pivoting move that's even weaker than U-Turn/Volt Switch. What about it makes it so significant? The answer lies in the Pokemon that got it.
On the
defensive end of things, Vaporeon and Milotic are definite winners. Something that definitely held them back to a degree before was how they were a momentum sink; as soon as you swapped them in, you had to fold momentum in order to soak a hit and punish set-up. However, now they finally have an option that allows for them to compliment Bulky Offense to great effectiveness and not simply be Balance exclusives. Going into your Rotom is no longer is as safe of an option, as doing so can lead to you being put in a severely disadvantageous position; whereas in the past, simply soaking a Toxic was annoying, but still favored the Rotom player. For Vaporeon specifically, it's been stated several times on how it can mimic Wishport Clefable due to its low speed and access to a momentum move, however, it cannot be understated how huge this actually is. Being able to freely (almost entirely) heal your Incineroar or Weezing is an absolute boon, and given Vaporeon's incredible synergy with Incineroar, it's even more huge. Blastoise also greatly likes it as a Rapid Spinner, making its defensive sets also not fold momentum. Overall, Vaporeon, Blastoise, and Milotic were greatly buffed with the addition of momentum to their kit even though, as Lily stated, it is kind of hard to fit it onto their sets.
On the
offensive end of things, Barraskewda and Keldeo are also benefited from the addition of Flip Turn, albeit to a lesser extent. Barraskewda benefits a ton more because of its blistering speed tier and its more prediction reliant nature. Keldeo not as much, though. While being able to scout the Noivern and Celebi switch-in is pretty good, Icy Wind is still a pretty good punish anyway, and when you're in with your Keldeo, you want to do damage anyway.
These mons also benefit from Flip Turn, but primarily due to the fact that they are immune to it. They are able to fully capitalize on an attempt to switch-out and either get important chip damage on a Pokemon, heal, or have setup fodder; the latter especially, as Toxicroak's Poison/Fighting STABs are absolutely godlike against the tier, and definitely has a niche. It's not really of giant significance, but these mons do have a teensy bit more of a place now.
Overall, Flip Turn is a pretty big shake-up to the tier, especially to Bulky Offense.
2: Grassy Glide
What's that? Grassy Surge Rillaboom is a threat in UU? Huh, what's that? We should give it a 70 BP priority move that's STAB, terrain boosted, and puts an emphasis on its raw power more effectively?
Yikes. Banded Rillaboom and SD Rillaboom are... way better, and they're hell of wallbreakers. On top of having Knock Off, Superpower, and U-Turn and a respectable base 85 speed, this thing is a menace and a half. No other users can really use this move efficiently, but Rillaboom abuses it to all hell and is a phenomenal cleaner, too.
3: Scorching Sands
Not really of much significance, honestly. Incineroar getting it doesn't really mean much to it, since it usually runs Physical variants and would have to forego one of its 4 valuable moveslots to hold it (even Overheat doesn't really have room for it). CC outclasses it offensively, as well.
Arcanine's pivot set, contrarily, might like having access to it. It's not really a giant deal, but getting a shot at burning Rhyperior/Gigalith while getting some valuable chip damage on it is pretty nice for the teams that run it. Though, it has pretty similar issues to Incineroar in regards to liking its moveslots and not particularly needing Scorching Sand's utility.
When Palossand drops, though, it will be much, much more of a significant move in the tier.
4: Triple Axel
Tsareena is the main winner of Triple Axel, as thanks to its access to it, it's now able to thrash Noivern on the switch. It is mainly only consistent on fringe Scarf variants, but I can see Triple Axel being a good way to catch Noivern switch-ins to its standard pivot variants by surprise. Probably isn't worth foregoing High Jump Kick in most circumstances, though.
Cinccino is a mon that's sort of interesting with Triple Axel, too, but not really. I would even say it isn't really worth much of anything toward its already very fringe viability. Being able to run it with Technician to get an effectively 180 BP Ice move is cool, but there's not really much to get from it, since it's still hard walled by Steel-types and can just hit Noivern with Rock Blast anyway.
Hitmontop likes it; fwiw, I can see AV being kinda cool with it, more specifically. Access to Triple Axel (Technician boosted or otherwise) definitely gives it more of an edge against grasses like Roserade and Celebi, and more of a threatening option against Flygon and Noivern. AV Spin + Triple Axel gives it an option as a fringe Fighting support, but I don't really think it's worth much, either, especially with the potential drops coming soon. I'm pretty sure Mienshao would outclass it in every way regardless.
5: Expanding Force
Expanding Force is a terrifying force from Indeedee's Specs variants, but as Lily said, we have an incredibly huge force in the form of Incineroar that's being run so much that it's not nearly as scary of a win-con. On top of the fact that natural Hyper Voice switch-ins exist pretty much everywhere, I don't really think Indeedee will be that bad. I won't echo anything that's been said about it already; it'll be definitely better, but not the dominating force it was in RU.
While Alolan Raichu certainly works to a much greater consistency on Electric Terrain squads, it still has a fantastic base 110 speed tier that, most prominently, outspeeds Heliolisk and Cobalion. Raichu, unlike Indeedee, is also able to more efficiently punish Incineroar with access to Surf/Focus Blast, and its Electric STAB is also fantastic. Raichu can definitely go in with Hazard support, too, but it isn't as great as it is on Electric Terrain.
6: Rising Voltage
Yikes 2: Electric Boogaloo. Pincurchin and Raichu, on the contrary, I am much, much more concerned about, at least until we get Palossand due to the lack of good Electric immunities in the tier outside of Rhyperior and Flygon (kinda).
Pincurchin definitely likes the powered up STAB move, making it much less passive as a whole. It might be a cooler suicide lead for that reason, albeit still sort of fringe. On Terrain Offense, though, it'll definitely be pretty solid, especially thanks to its ability to stack Spikes for Raichu and Necrozma.
But, for the next week or so, Rising Voltage from Raichu specifically is a much more potent, active threat. This is hugely because of the fact it has access to Nasty Plot and access to Grass Knot/Surf to thrash Ground switch-ins, as well as Surge Surfer to improve its already great speed tier. Honestly, even with Palossand, Raichu looks like an amazing win-con, as it still has Surf to smack it sideways after some chip damage. I don't necessarily think it'll be broken, but Electric Terrain offense is very, very legit right now, especially with the horrifying menace that is Seed Necrozma. Honestly, I could see it even being comparable to the menace of Sun to a degree, though I don't really know if that's an apt comparison as we've only had this for a bit under a week. But, from what I've tried, it's pretty good.
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Overall, even without the DLC mons, our meta got hugely, hugely shifted with the advent of the DLC moves and NFEs such as P2 and Scyther. Things are going to be shaken up a lot more when the drop comes to fruition, but for right now, we definitely got a ton to experiment with, and I'm excited to see what's to come!
