Hello everyone, the OU tiering council has decided to test Archaludon!
Archaludon is one of the newest additions to the metagame, surfacing as an Indigo Disk washed up on the shores of Paldea this past December! DLC2 shot out like a cannon, electrifying the metagame with meteoric implications. After a slow start, Archaludon's Stamina proved worthwhile, fortifying it as one of the most reliable bodies to apply consistent pressure on Rain teams. Dealing draconian damage as the cornerstone of the metagame's most flashy archetype, it should be no surprise that Archaludon is among the biggest powerhouses in SV OU!
Regarding the decision and process, the SV OU council has determined that Archaludon is worthy of a suspect testing. This suspect is the result of a council consensus to act on Archaludon; it would be an abuse of power to push through a quickban without consulting the public at this specific stage in the metagame, but a suspect test allows for the playerbase to determine Archaludon's fate.
While it is true that Archaludon received only limited support during the last tiering survey, the metagame has shifted a lot over the last three weeks. Rain teams featuring Archaludon saw a substantial uptick in usage and effectiveness while metagame adaptations have hardly slowed down Archaludon's dominance. We will get more into the specifics of Archaludon's presence later in the post, but the intention is to keep surveys regular without abusing their place in tiering. Having a survey every other week, for example, is an overapplication of the process. Finding a comfortable middleground where they happen every month or even every six weeks allows for us to regularly check-in on the metagame's focal topics while still giving us room to tier when needed before, during, or after survey periods.
Ursaluna-Bloodmoon also received a suspect test despite low survey scores (nearly identical to that of Archaludon) after optimal applications of it surfaced in the metagame only after an initial survey. Of course, Archaludon is nowhere near as blatantly broken as Ursaluna-Bloodmoon, which received over 90% support to ban, but there has undoubtebly been a shift in the metagame and an outcry for some form of tiering action. This gives us the freedom to adapt our tiering process to a constantly adapting metagame while still letting the playerbase decide outcomes.
Regarding Archaludon's presence and suspect reasoning, Archaludon is a staple on Rain teams. You typically see it use a set featuring Electro Shot, a signature move that thrives in Rain. Electro Shot does not require a charging turn when it is Raining, deals damage reflecting the Special Attack boost the move gives, and comes off of a strong base power with the complimentary Electric type coverage. This paired with Draco Meteor and Flash Cannon allows for Archaludon to hit the vast majority of the metagame with special attacks alone. The combination of Stamina and Body Press allow for Archaludon to hit specific special walls like Blissey and Tyranitar or Steel types like Kingambit, Iron Treads, and Excadrill. Earthquake is also an option to hit these Pokemon aside from Blissey while also catching Clodsire, which is otherwise seen as the lone counter to Archaludon.
You frequently see Archaludon using Assault Vest, which helps bolster its otherwise lackluster special defense. This coupled with fantstic natural bulk on the physical end, a practical defensive typing, and Stamnia makes it very hard to take out. For reference, Archaludon is able to live Close Combat from Zamazenta, Draco Meteor from Choice Specs Kyurem, and multiple Earthquake from Gliscor all with its standard set before you account for it potentially exhausting a Tera. Add on to this the fact that it commonly utilizes Tera Fairy, which provides a near-perfect compliment to its Dragon/Steel typing, and you get a Pokemon that is incredibly challenge to kill quickly that is capable of snowballing out of control offensively. In addition, options such as Leftovers can provide direct health relief if players do not feel a need for Assault Vest, which you also can see with Grassy Terrain.
While Archaludon has lots going for it, it is by no means a perfect Pokemon. Archaludon is nowhere near broken outside of Rain, making it reliant on support to make Electro Shot variants thrive. This is beyond your normal support, too, as Pelipper is a lackluster Pokemon that is only used to set Rain after all. This forces Archaudon to only work in limited contexts which can, to a certain extent, be abused. Rain teams are only used so often and only allow for certain Pokemon to fit after all. With this in mind, Rain has been one of the most dominant styles when it has been used, destroying the ladder and tournament play. It has forced us to teambuild very differently, contributing to the metagame approaching numerous extremes as balances cannot withstand the oversaturation of threats. For reference, here is how effective Rain has been through the first chunk of the SPL (Smogon Premier League) season, which is seen as one of the best OU tournaments each year:
This is nowhere near the full story though. Pokemon that are this reliant on support can be productive, but they need to achieve a higher threshold of efficiency in a shorter window in order to prove worthwhile; this very much applies to Archaludon, who is at its best on Rain teams. These Rain teams can be beaten and we have seen people adapt to other facets of Rain, for example, with an uptick in Water Absorb Wellspring, Volcanion, and Clodsire for Barraskewda or the rise in other weathers within the metagame to disrupt Rain. However, not many of these adaptations aside from Clodsire have been able to account well for Archaludon, which continues to run rampant. Counterplay to Archaludon, which very much includes Clodsire, also can focus around other Electric immunities like Ruination or Whirlwind SDef Ting Lu, Iron Treads, faster Earth Power Landorus-T, or Sandy Shocks, who can all 1v1 Archaludon, but do not switch in safely, making them circumstantial checks if no Tera is involved in the exchange. You can see Blissey handle non-Body Press variants, SDef Skeledirge with the right Tera type stall out Archaludon if it times the sequence properly, or combinations of faster Pokemon applying offensive pressure minimizing Archaludon to just a few entries.
Overall, Archaludon is one of the scariest Pokemon to encounter in SV OU! It is able to withstand the vast majority of attacks while dealing strong, oftentimes boosted attacks that cover almost every possible Pokemon you can bring. It is incredibly reliant on Rain support, which is a limiting factor for any potential suspect, but Rain is at its peak right now. Special bulk is limited and the speed tier is middling, but Assault Vest and Stamina can help compensate for these shortcomings, allowing Archaludon to fire off numerous attacks more often than not. It will be interesting to see how the playerbase votes on Archaludon as it becomes the tenth suspect of the ninth generation!
- Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test!!! The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE will suffice.
| GXE | minimum games |
| 80 | 50 |
| 80.2 | 49 |
| 80.4 | 48 |
| 80.6 | 47 |
| 80.8 | 46 |
| 81 | 45 |
| 81.2 | 44 |
| 81.4 | 43 |
| 81.6 | 42 |
| 81.8 | 41 |
| 82 | 40 |
| 82.2 | 39 |
| 82.4 | 38 |
| 82.6 | 37 |
| 82.8 | 36 |
| 83 | 35 |
| 83.2 | 34 |
| 83.4 | 33 |
| 83.6 | 32 |
| 83.8 | 31 |
| 84 | 30 |
- You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be OUKU. For example, I might signup with the ladder account OUKU Finch.
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
- We will be using the regular OU ladder for this suspect test. We will not be creating a new Suspect Ladder. At the beginning of every battle, there will be an announcement denoting the ongoing suspect with a link to this thread.
- The suspect being tested, Archaludon, will be allowed on the ladder.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- Unlike previous tests, we will be posting the voting identification thread immediately after this thread. Your voting requisites will be confirmed by a Council member or OU moderator, to which we will edit in confirmation. Please avoid getting more games before getting confirmed.
- The suspect test will be lasting until Friday, February 16th at 11:59 pm (GMT-5), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
- THIS IS A SLIGHTLY SHORTER TEST THAN NORMAL AS WE ATTEMPT TO BALANCE THE METAGAME AFTER THE RELEASE OF DLC2. PLEASE NOTE THIS WHEN PLANNING TO GET VOTING REQUIREMENTS!!!
- No unhelpful one liners nor uninformed posts;
- No discussion on other potential suspects -- if you wish to discuss another Pokemon, we encourage you to do so in the metagame discussion thread, but this thread is strictly to discuss if Archaludon is banworthy or not;
- No discussion on the suspect process -- this includes testing Archaludon vs other potential suspects;
- You are required to make respectful posts;
- You are required to read this thread before posting.
- Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
- Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the OU Council and the OU Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
- Do not argue because it's your favorite Pokemon. This should be common sense, but please don't do this, because we will delete posts like this.
- You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the theorymon aspect and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
- Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have an informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderator.
- Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
- This thread is not to voice complaints about the suspect process or decisions of the council. While we are more than open to hearing complaints that may arise, this isn't the place for it. I suggest you message the OU Council, PM our Tier Leaders, Finchinator and Ruft, or make a post in Senior Staff requests, should you have a badge.
Keep in mind that our suspect tests are decided by the community; anyone who rightfully achieves voting requisites is allowed to vote. The outcome is up to you.
+ featured shitmon
for OU and Triple Dino Death Barrage (
.)
instead of 
shouldn’t have too much trouble. For example , I lead 
, Tera Ghost 
and possibly Unaware 
. Everything else (
, 
, etc) gets severally chunked trying to stop it or just dies outright if they’re passive. While there is DEFINITELY ways to beat it, like pressuring it from swapping in via hazards / offensive threats that can 2-3HKO, Arch really suppresses stall, which I’ve also have used a bit. Like, stall HAS to run 
+ 
is pressured not to swap in for fear of giving Arch an easy opportunity to boost. 
” and “You Predict Tera Wrong you Die 
, and 
”, there’s also, “Oh, you’re team also needs enough offensive pressure to keep 
gets banned.
, 
, 
, Calm Mind 