Metagame SV OU Metagame Discussion v4

UltraSword said:
Insta losing to Iron Valiant? In this economy? No but seriously Roaring Moon being the first thing to get banned since Gouging Fire is not what I expected to be banned first. I am still not sure how I feel about Moon's presence in the tier but hopefully the meta will get better with it gone
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If anyone benefits from this ban it is probably Kyurem as it now has more wiggle room to steamroll teams
 
Cyber-DJ said:
All that tells me is that you're passionate aboit this tier. No shame in that imo.

What surprised you guys about the tier trends? Personally, i'm still a bit surprised Meow dropped, but Tinkaton's rise from honorary OU poke to actual OU is fun to see
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Meowscarada was UU in the past for a few months I think and it was a long time coming. It may return to OU eventually
 
Cyber-DJ said:
All that tells me is that you're passionate aboit this tier. No shame in that imo.

What surprised you guys about the tier trends? Personally, i'm still a bit surprised Meow dropped, but Tinkaton's rise from honorary OU poke to actual OU is fun to see
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Not surprised rillaboom dropped. But with no roaring moon, I think corv will be less common and rillaboom could see a comeback, maybe.
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 244 HP / 36 Def Gliscor in Grassy Terrain: 325-384 (92.3 - 109%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
People will be looking for ways to bust gliscor that aren't kyurem. Rillaboom also supports bulky offense which roaring moon shredded.

I am surprised blissey dropped I feel like I see a lot of blissey and stall in general.
 
tommytt22 said:
Not surprised rillaboom dropped. But with no roaring moon, I think corv will be less common and rillaboom could see a comeback, maybe.
252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 244 HP / 36 Def Gliscor in Grassy Terrain: 325-384 (92.3 - 109%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
People will be looking for ways to bust gliscor that aren't kyurem. Rillaboom also supports bulky offense which roaring moon shredded.
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Corv is not going anywhere. It's great into a ton of Pokemon in the metagame and has been putting up strong showings for a while now even vs non Moon teams. None of Rilla's issues have really gone away post Moon (who wasn't even its biggest issue). It doesn't really support bulky offense well as it contributes nearly nothing defensively and its utility is mediocre and unreliable. It thuds into common offense teams and struggles to break bulkier teams due to the prominence of Corv, Zapdos, Moltres, Dragonite and Pecharunt. Probably even more I'm forgetting off the top of my head. It can't even pressure Garg reliably if those run Protect as it just scouts what move it'll lock into (and you are not running non banded sets as those are really weak). It also overdepends on Tera to shore up the nerf to Grassy Glide which otherwise will often come up short of revenging threats.

Its drop was well deserved and barring some serious metagame shifts I don't see it making any kind of comeback.
 
I don't think Moon's ban will really change anything, aside from making speed tiers on some teams a bit more lenient and priority Attackers worse. HO will also generally be worse but on the flipside, options for replacements are a dime a dozen. Moon could also be very scary for HO teams so the actual impact of its loss are a mixed bag there as well.

Most of the mons Moon limited have other checks that will likely rise up with it gone like Garchomp or Samurott-H. Other sets like band and scarf imo were not actually better than existing options like Meowscarada & I'd argue Corv / Skarm / Ting-Lu get better cause they aren't losing their helmet or Leftovers to Knock, which will help against late-game Gambit or Raging Bolt.

Offense is dealt a blow by losing a strong Knocker but we will prob see it recover with other knock mons gaining traction like Ogerpon-W, Valiant, or Weavile.

Only change I see is that random Tera Fairy mon's may become less common, but most Tera Fairy Mons are still going to be used because it is so universally applicable to Dragons and Darks.
 
Magcargo said:
I don't think Moon's ban will really change anything, aside from making speed tiers on some teams a bit more lenient and priority Attackers worse. HO will also generally be worse but on the flipside, options for replacements are a dime a dozen. Moon could also be very scary for HO teams so the actual impact of its loss are a mixed bag there as well.

Most of the mons Moon limited have other checks that will likely rise up with it gone like Garchomp or Samurott-H. Other sets like band and scarf imo were not actually better than existing options like Meowscarada & I'd argue Corv / Skarm / Ting-Lu get better cause they aren't losing their helmet or Leftovers to Knock, which will help against late-game Gambit or Raging Bolt.

Offense is dealt a blow by losing a strong Knocker but we will prob see it recover with other knock mons gaining traction like Ogerpon-W, Valiant, or Weavile.

Only change I see is that random Tera Fairy mon's may become less common, but most Tera Fairy Mons are still going to be used because it is so universally applicable to Dragons and Darks.
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I disagree with this actually. There has been a lot of Dark spam teams since early on in the generation, and that's why the meta was centralized around Dark-resists and Knock Off absorbers, which was a point brought up in the video discussing Roaring Moon from ausma, leng loi, and Srn. Roaring Moon's ban should free up building by making it so that teams don't need 2-3 Dark-resists as often, which will make it easier to check other threats in the meta rather than overloading to prep for all the Dark spam teams on the ladder.
 
Moyashi said:
Corv is not going anywhere. It's great into a ton of Pokemon in the metagame and has been putting up strong showings for a while now even vs non Moon teams. None of Rilla's issues have really gone away post Moon (who wasn't even its biggest issue). It doesn't really support bulky offense well as it contributes nearly nothing defensively and its utility is mediocre and unreliable. It thuds into common offense teams and struggles to break bulkier teams due to the prominence of Corv, Zapdos, Moltres, Dragonite and Pecharunt. Probably even more I'm forgetting off the top of my head. It can't even pressure Garg reliably if those run Protect as it just scouts what move it'll lock into (and you are not running non banded sets as those are really weak). It also overdepends on Tera to shore up the nerf to Grassy Glide which otherwise will often come up short of revenging threats.

Its drop was well deserved and barring some serious metagame shifts I don't see it making any kind of comeback.
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I forgot about pecharunt, I think any change to rillabooms viability will be small, but zapdos and moltres were also seeing a boost in usage as (unreliable) checks to moon sweeps. Roaring moon had very little impact on rillaboom but moon checks often checked rilla as well, which suffocated it since everyone over prepared for roaring moon.

Another thing to consider, a lot of people are complaining that Dragonite will just become the new roaring moon, grassy terrain makes any grounded steel type a viable check to Dragonite. Like I said rillaboom won't be the next big thing but don't underestimate the power of these niche attributes, SV OU has turned so many "cheese" sets into viable contenders. I could see it returning to OU in 3 months time.
 
tommytt22 said:
I forgot about pecharunt, I think any change to rillabooms viability will be small, but zapdos and moltres were also seeing a boost in usage as (unreliable) checks to moon sweeps. Roaring moon had very little impact on rillaboom but moon checks often checked rilla as well, which suffocated it since everyone over prepared for roaring moon.

Another thing to consider, a lot of people are complaining that Dragonite will just become the new roaring moon, grassy terrain makes any grounded steel type a viable check to Dragonite. Like I said rillaboom won't be the next big thing but don't underestimate the power of these niche attributes, SV OU has turned so many "cheese" sets into viable contenders. I could see it returning to OU in 3 months time.
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And with respect, what would it do? It's been underperforming for months now (and even calling it underperforming feels generous honestly) and there isn't anything it offers that teams need. Rilla isn't really cheese, it's just fallen way off and I don't see what anyone could do to make it worth using again. It doesn't even really do well into Gliscor teams which again, just protect scout it if necessary but also just outlast it really easily. Its checks are all staples of the tier and teams are naturally well prepared to deny it at every turn. Running a grass on bulky teams that doesn't check Wellspring is incredibly unwise too.
 
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Some interesting takeaways from March's usage stats (and not the entire three month period): Weezing-Galar and Scizor both made the cut for OU by usage this month, being #33 and #34 respectively. These are two up and comers both in tournament and ladder usage it seems, and it's nice to see them getting the respect they deserve. Some may say that Moon's ban would put a damper on Weezing, but I think it just makes the Neutralzing Gas sets better by removing a Dark-type that it actually failed terribly to check without an EQ immunity. I'd say that unless the Weezing balance builds that have become popular start to take a steep downtrend in popularity, this summer may genuinely be the summer of Weezing-Galar in OU. Scizor is also really cool to see popping up more, not much to say about it other than it's a solid mon with good anti-offense qualities. Tinkaton and Weavile, our two new OU members from the 3-month period, did not make the cut this month either, which is interesting. Maybe their stay will be short-lived.

The bottom three that qualify as OU by usage in March were Enamorus, Walking Wake, and Iron Crown. Of those three, the first two have seemed to be dancing with the idea of becoming UU constantly these past few months, but never do. Crown, however... I could actually see happening. The meta has not been kind to it for the past while and I feel it's popularity with AVest and Specs sets has diminished greatly recently. Not a bad mon though, just there's so many other Steels trending that it becomes hard for it to stand out.

Also ladder players need to use Gliscor more, seriously are they that scared of Corviknight checking the broken mon to not use it :smogduck:
 
Moyashi said:
And with respect, what would it do? It's been underperforming for months now (and even calling it underperforming feels generous honestly) and there isn't anything it offers that teams need. Rilla isn't really cheese, it's just fallen way off and I don't see what anyone could do to make it worth using again. It doesn't even really do well into Gliscor teams which again, just protect scout it if necessary but also just outlast it really easily. Its checks are all staples of the tier and teams are naturally well prepared to deny it at every turn. Running a grass on bulky teams that doesn't check Wellspring is incredibly unwise too.
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Call it a gut feeling. Do I have evidence? No. But I had this argument with finchinator about darkrai. On paper it seemed to be a reasonable conclusion, but in the end we had to kneecap it with a sleep ban (effectively making it ability-less too) and months later it's still A+ rank.

I think the ban of moon will make the birdspam less common and rillaboom/grassy terrain will see some level of use within 2 months. Obviously it's not on the level of Darkrai don't get my message twisted. But it offers and enables a unique style that nothing else can. Consider sub protect kyurem with grassy recovery. Knock/U-turn will always have value if you can compress that onto your terrain setter as well. (even if other Pokemon are better at exclusively knock/U-turn). Remember the tier has one less knock off user now.
Seraphyde said:
Dragonite used Fire Punch
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+1 252+ Atk Dragonite Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 196+ Def Gholdengo: 216-256 (57.1 - 67.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery

Gholdengo used thunder wave. Gholdengo used recover.

And what's Dragonite dropping to run fire punch?
 
Avira said:
I disagree with this actually. There has been a lot of Dark spam teams since early on in the generation, and that's why the meta was centralized around Dark-resists and Knock Off absorbers, which was a point brought up in the video discussing Roaring Moon from ausma, leng loi, and Srn. Roaring Moon's ban should free up building by making it so that teams don't need 2-3 Dark-resists as often, which will make it easier to check other threats in the meta rather than overloading to prep for all the Dark spam teams on the ladder.
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Fair point but I would still argue that Dark Spam will still be potent. Most of the Dark-types pair well with each other due to their natural advantages. Meowscarada X Lum Kingambit is a strong core even in the moon metagame, where Meow could break down or wear down most of Gambit's checks like Moltres, Corv, etc. with Knock. Other Darks like Weavile, Samurott-H, Darkrai, and even Hoopa-U will still be forming fantastic cores with one another, as well as the aforementioned Gambit / Meow because of their own unique advantages. I'm also not entirely sure that losing Roaring Moon will be the death blow to this archetype we think it is - Fairy Blast moon was arguably also one of the best dismantler of these Dark Spam teams due to its ability to exploit many of the Pokémon on these builds for Dd setup, natural resistance to Sucker Punch, and it's ability to dismantle common partners to these Dark Spam teams like Zama or pecharunt with its TB / Knock Coverage. We likely still will be seeing other TB users like Fairy Blast Darkrai or Gambit also take this role in the future (Fairy Blast Gambit is arguably the scariest variant imo) as well as other Pokémon like Zamazenta or Valiant be a bit more reliable vs these builds due to the current crop of sweepers being unable to boost their speed. Dark Spam will take a small hit, but I think it will still be a powerful Style. Something else worth noting is that a lot of Dragon-Types like Raging Bolt or Garchomp function similarly to the Darks in that they are able to lure and KO many of the dark checks like Tusk, Tera Fairy mons, and Ting Luwith small set optimizations and tweaks.
 
Magcargo said:
Fair point but I would still argue that Dark Spam will still be potent. Most of the Dark-types pair well with each other due to their natural advantages. Meowscarada X Lum Kingambit is a strong core even in the moon metagame, where Meow could break down or wear down most of Gambit's checks like Moltres, Corv, etc. with Knock. Other Darks like Weavile, Samurott-H, Darkrai, and even Hoopa-U will still be forming fantastic cores with one another, as well as the aforementioned Gambit / Meow because of their own unique advantages. I'm also not entirely sure that losing Roaring Moon will be the death blow to this archetype we think it is - Fairy Blast moon was arguably also one of the best dismantler of these Dark Spam teams due to its ability to exploit many of the Pokémon on these builds for Dd setup, natural resistance to Sucker Punch, and it's ability to dismantle common partners to these Dark Spam teams like Zama or pecharunt with its TB / Knock Coverage. We likely still will be seeing other TB users like Fairy Blast Darkrai or Gambit also take this role in the future (Fairy Blast Gambit is arguably the scariest variant imo) as well as other Pokémon like Zamazenta or Valiant be a bit more reliable vs these builds due to the current crop of sweepers being unable to boost their speed. Dark Spam will take a small hit, but I think it will still be a powerful Style. Something else worth noting is that a lot of Dragon-Types like Raging Bolt or Garchomp function similarly to the Darks in that they are able to lure and KO many of the dark checks like Tusk, Tera Fairy mons, and Ting Luwith small set optimizations and tweaks.
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I never implied I thought Roaring Moon's ban would be the death knell to the Dark spam archetype, just that it'll be weakened and make it harder to build teams with 3 Dark-type Pokemon now, which is why I specifically mentioned building with 2-3 Dark-resists less often should be easier now. I'm sure with how many good Dark-type options are available that the style will still be effective although not as demanding in the builder as before due to the biggest threat among them having gotten banned.
 
This isn't really related to the Roaring Goon ban (thank god for that), but I just wanted to highlight a wall breaker that I think is going dummy af right now in the meta, and y'all need to hop on the train.

:Volcanion:

Honestly, actually any specs special water-type breaker is guaranteed to go dummy right now cuz defensive grass-type stocks are at an all time low, and I doubt Roaring Moon of all mons being banned is the one to change that. Specs Primarina, Keldeo, and maybe Walking Wake (haven't tested it out yet) are all pretty damn good rn, but I want to highlight Volcanion cuz I feel like it of all mons is the one that benefits the most from the current meta in terms of being an absolutely unwallable specs breaker.

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 52 Def / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Body Press
- Sludge Bomb

This is the set right now I'm running. Body Press over the standard Earth Power since I pretty much never need to click Earth Power anyway (although I am sure its useful for something), and it makes Volcanion way better into non-Toxapex stall variants. Speed is to outspeed neutral no-speed investment Gliscor.

Take a look at the current usage stats down below and ask yourself who tf is switching in on this shit.

1743573323331.png


Basically every resist is getting two-tapped by Specs Steam Eruption. Kyurem? Decimated. Raging Bolt? Eviscerated. Better hope your Samurott is AV but even that's not saving your ass since rocks gives Volcanion a chance to 2HKO. Primarina too, but even if Prim is AV, it can't do shit back to Volcanion thanks to Water Absorb. Alo and AV Glowking after rocks get two tapped, and its actually hilarious seeing people mindlessly switch them in only to get slapped up. Araquanid technically gets 3HKOed, but you really should be dealing with it with something else. I know the Smogon Dex set lists Tera Fairy Tera Blast for Volc, but lowkey I way prefer Tera Water since it allows you to always two-tap non AV Kyurem and Raging Bolt without hazards, and it also gives you a favorable roll to 2HKO Tera Poison Ting-Lu (and also allows you to oneshot Ting-Lu if they stay in and don't tera). Walking Wake is also technically a check, but it gets two-tapped by sludge and lowkey is pretty rare anyways (also usually found on Sun which Volcanion fucks over pretty hard anyways)

That gives you Dragonite and Ogerpon as the only two semi-consistent switch-ins most teams have, but thats why I think Volc shines the most here since Dnite HATES being burned (and also can't switch in anyway if multi-scale is broken). Ogerpon-W also hates switching into Sludgebomb or Flamethrower. Volcanion also shines over contenders like Keldeo, Prim, or Walking Wake since Steam Eruption is both powerful at 110 bp and also actually accurate unlike Hydro Pump. Volcanion is higher maintenance since you need hazards off, but its actually not that bad since it pairs well with Corviknight which baits in Gholdengo for Volc and because Tera Water Volcanion is capable of deleting Ting-Lu in one shot.

Either way, you definitely can't go wrong here by employing a special water-type breaker on your team as long as you have a good knock-off user to bait in the few mons that could even think about switching in and some speedy mons to take advantage of the sheer carnage it brings in. Definitely think about it!
 

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Sqookblooks said:
This isn't really related to the Roaring Goon ban (thank god for that), but I just wanted to highlight a wall breaker that I think is going dummy af right now in the meta, and y'all need to hop on the train.

:Volcanion:

Honestly, actually any specs special water-type breaker is guaranteed to go dummy right now cuz defensive grass-type stocks are at an all time low, and I doubt Roaring Moon of all mons being banned is the one to change that. Specs Primarina, Keldeo, and maybe Walking Wake (haven't tested it out yet) are all pretty damn good rn, but I want to highlight Volcanion cuz I feel like it of all mons is the one that benefits the most from the current meta in terms of being an absolutely unwallable specs breaker.

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 52 Def / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Body Press
- Sludge Bomb

This is the set right now I'm running. Body Press over the standard Earth Power since I pretty much never need to click Earth Power anyway (although I am sure its useful for something), and it makes Volcanion way better into non-Toxapex stall variants. Speed is to outspeed neutral no-speed investment Gliscor.

Take a look at the current usage stats down below and ask yourself who tf is switching in on this shit.

View attachment 728275

Basically every resist is getting two-tapped by Specs Steam Eruption. Kyurem? Decimated. Raging Bolt? Eviscerated. Better hope your Samurott is AV but even that's not saving your ass since rocks gives Volcanion a chance to 2HKO. Primarina too, but even if Prim is AV, it can't do shit back to Volcanion thanks to Water Absorb. Alo and AV Glowking after rocks get two tapped, and its actually hilarious seeing people mindlessly switch them in only to get slapped up. Araquanid technically gets 3HKOed, but you really should be dealing with it with something else. I know the Smogon Dex set lists Tera Fairy Tera Blast for Volc, but lowkey I way prefer Tera Water since it allows you to always two-tap non AV Kyurem and Raging Bolt without hazards, and it also gives you a favorable roll to 2HKO Tera Poison Ting-Lu (and also allows you to oneshot Ting-Lu if they stay in and don't tera). Walking Wake is also technically a check, but it gets two-tapped by sludge and lowkey is pretty rare anyways (also usually found on Sun which Volcanion fucks over pretty hard anyways)

That gives you Dragonite and Ogerpon as the only two semi-consistent switch-ins most teams have, but thats why I think Volc shines the most here since Dnite HATES being burned (and also can't switch in anyway if multi-scale is broken). Ogerpon-W also hates switching into Sludgebomb or Flamethrower. Volcanion also shines over contenders like Keldeo, Prim, or Walking Wake since Steam Eruption is both powerful at 110 bp and also actually accurate unlike Hydro Pump. Volcanion is higher maintenance since you need hazards off, but its actually not that bad since it pairs well with Corviknight which baits in Gholdengo for Volc and because Tera Water Volcanion is capable of deleting Ting-Lu in one shot.

Either way, you definitely can't go wrong here by employing a special water-type breaker on your team as long as you have a good knock-off user to bait in the few mons that could even think about switching in and some speedy mons to take advantage of the sheer carnage it brings in. Definitely think about it!
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I don't know why but I've always been a volcanion hater. I think it's problem is the speed tier. It's strong sure, but so is walking wake, which does much the same at breaking with a better speed tier.

Volcanion would do well in any situation where it's faster but what about situations where it's not?

252 Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 0 HP / 52 Def Volcanion: 320-380 (106.3 - 126.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Protosynthesis Raging Bolt Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcanion: 476-564 (158.1 - 187.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Glimmora Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Volcanion: 288-338 (95.6 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

I've run into quite a few volcanions on ladder and it has a rough lead matchup, if you don't lead with it though, specs variants get ravaged by hazards and it's so slow it gets picked off later by something weaker than one of my examples. It reminds me of Hoopa-U in a lot of ways, usually a 6-0 on stall but seriously struggles against other playstyles.
 
Cheryl. said:
Tinkaton and Weavile, our two new OU members from the 3-month period, did not make the cut this month either, which is interesting. Maybe their stay will be short-lived.
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Maybe, but I doubt it, at least for Weavile. It's been hella good for a bit, especially now. Tinkaton's still one of the better Darkrai checks, and the role compression is always nice to have. Tinkaton i'm not too sure about. I presume it'll be at around 4-6% usage regularly, but idk. We'll see what happens.

Sqookblooks said:
This isn't really related to the Roaring Goon ban (thank god for that), but I just wanted to highlight a wall breaker that I think is going dummy af right now in the meta, and y'all need to hop on the train.

:Volcanion:

Honestly, actually any specs special water-type breaker is guaranteed to go dummy right now cuz defensive grass-type stocks are at an all time low, and I doubt Roaring Moon of all mons being banned is the one to change that. Specs Primarina, Keldeo, and maybe Walking Wake (haven't tested it out yet) are all pretty damn good rn, but I want to highlight Volcanion cuz I feel like it of all mons is the one that benefits the most from the current meta in terms of being an absolutely unwallable specs breaker.

Volcanion @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 52 Def / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
- Body Press
- Sludge Bomb

This is the set right now I'm running. Body Press over the standard Earth Power since I pretty much never need to click Earth Power anyway (although I am sure its useful for something), and it makes Volcanion way better into non-Toxapex stall variants. Speed is to outspeed neutral no-speed investment Gliscor.

Take a look at the current usage stats down below and ask yourself who tf is switching in on this shit.

View attachment 728275

Basically every resist is getting two-tapped by Specs Steam Eruption. Kyurem? Decimated. Raging Bolt? Eviscerated. Better hope your Samurott is AV but even that's not saving your ass since rocks gives Volcanion a chance to 2HKO. Primarina too, but even if Prim is AV, it can't do shit back to Volcanion thanks to Water Absorb. Alo and AV Glowking after rocks get two tapped, and its actually hilarious seeing people mindlessly switch them in only to get slapped up. Araquanid technically gets 3HKOed, but you really should be dealing with it with something else. I know the Smogon Dex set lists Tera Fairy Tera Blast for Volc, but lowkey I way prefer Tera Water since it allows you to always two-tap non AV Kyurem and Raging Bolt without hazards, and it also gives you a favorable roll to 2HKO Tera Poison Ting-Lu (and also allows you to oneshot Ting-Lu if they stay in and don't tera). Walking Wake is also technically a check, but it gets two-tapped by sludge and lowkey is pretty rare anyways (also usually found on Sun which Volcanion fucks over pretty hard anyways)

That gives you Dragonite and Ogerpon as the only two semi-consistent switch-ins most teams have, but thats why I think Volc shines the most here since Dnite HATES being burned (and also can't switch in anyway if multi-scale is broken). Ogerpon-W also hates switching into Sludgebomb or Flamethrower. Volcanion also shines over contenders like Keldeo, Prim, or Walking Wake since Steam Eruption is both powerful at 110 bp and also actually accurate unlike Hydro Pump. Volcanion is higher maintenance since you need hazards off, but its actually not that bad since it pairs well with Corviknight which baits in Gholdengo for Volc and because Tera Water Volcanion is capable of deleting Ting-Lu in one shot.

Either way, you definitely can't go wrong here by employing a special water-type breaker on your team as long as you have a good knock-off user to bait in the few mons that could even think about switching in and some speedy mons to take advantage of the sheer carnage it brings in. Definitely think about it!
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This I love to see. Volcanion lowkey has some nasty damage. And it's not a frail breaker either, which can help in a pinch. I'd love to find an excuse to build with this dude. Hope to see more Volcanion teams soon. Super fun mon to use
 
I personally think skeledirge isn’t really good or anything close to that in this meta, its physical bulk isn’t anything to write home about, its special bulk isn’t good, it has a horrid defensive typing that gives weaknesss to pokemon it wants to check whilst also essentially removing its item slot (it MUST run boots and only boots), it lacks any form of offensive utility despite having torch song as its very slow and can be easily dispatched, it has a medicore movepool, it doesn’t fit on most playstyles and needs tera to actually get value, it may invalidate iron moth but iron moth isn’t meta defining.

I may hate meowscarada for auto losing to anything faster than it, but skeledirge is honestly the least viable of the gen 9 starters since it ultimately fails as a defensive pokemon despite having unaware.

It is pretty solid with tera fairy typing, but you would want to use the tera slot on something better.
 
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Skeledirge is good, you just gotta accept it will be the Tera Mon in 70% of the battles. Fairy isn,t forced on it, though its obviously a good type. Ground, Water, Dark, any defensive type can work on it. Its a very unique Mon in being a Unaware Mon that can sweep (no, don,t mention Curse Dondozo, that set is terrible). You also need to assume that you can,t just slap Skeledirge on any team and call it a day, it needs careful building around. Obviously it doesn,t fit on HO teams (best style), except the few TR ones.

Meowscarada is the best Paldea starter despite being somewhat hard to use too, though Moon departure makes her the best fast (Hisuian Samurott isn,t fast) Dark Scarfer (U-Turn is better than Darkrai's Trick). The ugly duck, despite still being viable (it could honestly even rise to C rank, with Gambit being still a dominating threat, that typing is very useful), its clearly the worst Paldea starter. Both offensively and defensively all of the other 3 Water Fights (Poliwrath, Paldean Tauros and Keldeo, in that specific order) are better Mons. Yes, I am completely serious and am saying all this after looking at the Viability Ranking.
 
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