Haven't posted on forums in a long while and I've been having extensive discussions on the potential of the returning mons, what will or wont be OU. I just thought I'd share my predicts.
Banned Mons: A trifecta of
, then
, and then
. (Chien-Pao goes as well but I'm only going to be discussing RETURNING mons).
I don't think this requires much diving into. While AV and CM-Split type sets will bring nice value to the tier, the pain that is specs and most offensive varients is as bad as its always been. I reckon for as long as Magearna keeps its SS movepool editions, it will never return to OU again. Also while on the topic I thought I'd put in a great meme of a calc:
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tera Fairy Magearna Fleur Cannon vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Skeledirge: 202-238 (49.1 - 57.9%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO
Absolutely heinous this thing is. Anyways, moving on.
Despite his nerfs I don't think his usual strengths have been taken down enough notches; checking it defensively was always possible, even in SS, but forcing this mon out without sacrificing health on something or just losing a mon was a fucking impossible task. Very Melmetal-Esque in that regard, but Melmetal didnt outspeed your usual choice band close combat clicker. Naturally tera adds further grievances in your futile attempts to force this mon out as it just ID's or Howls up and dominates your team slow and steady.
Tera ice funny. Boots will be good undying and unpunishable progress maker, and specs is just going to be a click button. Tera'ing eleki isnt always ideal since despite what many would want to believe, tera'ing does indeed have opportunity cost, but even if you don't, similar to its functionality in SS, its ability to force out any offensive mon and force in your ground type seemlessly was incredible. Also regular tera blast is still a welcome move over fucking swift/hyper beam.
This next bit I will just post a tierlist I made regarding my thoughts on the mons left:
NOTE: Zama-H didn't have a sprite, the Zama-Crowned you see below is meant to indicate Hero form. Also Urshifu is rapid strike here as Single is banned.
View attachment 520232
Meta:
With or without gen 8 transfer moves (defog), will be amazing. We've been thirsting for a real ground immune, and zap offensively applies good pressure too with its hurricanes and volt switches. Heat wave isnt super desperately needed, as you don't have Ferrothorns to deal with. You can set it however you need.
Self explanitory. Rocks taunt, wisp taunt, balloon shit. Good mon. Will need anti tera-ground volc sets.
As good as always, both future sight and sludge bomb are not as dire necessary as in SS, and pex not being able to knock you means you can get it in 100 times unpunished. With tera it can be teched to handle all threats you may deem necessary.
Physdef rocker with smack down eq uturn, SD sets, or scarf w/random tera blasts. Pick your goat and load. Even with all his lost moves, Lando do what Lando do. Next.
Mon is very melmtal-esque. Slow, bulky but not permanent, super chip-prone but really tough to force out in one go (252 atk tusk CC doesnt kill just max hp). Guts SD, 4 attacks, BU, choice band, or AV bulletproof all good with many moves and many teras. Exciting mon and likely going to be in a meta that it can well abuse.
Broken unwallable button masher and now in a gen with tera and no pursuit. Do the math.
Definitely overhyped, will be annoying but i think people are overly shitting their pants over the prospect of a potential sleep/para/poison. Especially considering poison stab isnt exactly the msot favourable to click. You're not forcing out a lot with that, so you're gonna be making hard reads just to fish for something. P-point uturn will def be annoying but I don't see it being as broken as some people have been dooming about.
Meh power breaker w/o a choice band, heavily 4mss'd, awkward solo typing, mediocre ability, but in turn it has great speed, movepool, defences, and tera to abuse. Will be nice for balance/bulky offence to have a progress maker that also prevents the Kingambit L pretty reliably. I think it will stay.
SD is a cool edition, hard to speak for its impact in a very offensive meta, and even if u do run into a bulkier team there is risks of stuff like Dondozo, Toxapex, Amoongus etc. Obviously you can pick and tech your set to break those individually, but all in all I think band will be the usual go-to.
Baby espthra
Rapid fire notes on the Solid list:
got taunt which is a massive buff to the HDB set that I don't understand how its gone under the radar of discussion. Will definitely have good impact breaking wise and filling defensive holes like fire/fairy resist and water immune.
is pretty self explanatory we can all see its stats and movepool. Specs, Scarf, Boots CM/Boots 4a all good.
only here under the possibility that we get gen 8 transfers back and he comes with glide. Grassy support is busted and as is Glide Rilla.
more limited without knock off and defog but taunt uturn hurricane still is good check to grounds/fights and AV can sponge and pivot like always. Plot could be good as well.
For the first time, Thundy-T gets to exist with boots AND a viable double-dance set. And fret not, u dont need to tera into a shitty ice type. Fairy and flying tera blast dominate the upcoming meta just as hard! Try him out asap.
both kind of the same flavor of mon, could be strong tera + setup threats with good alt set options too. Victory Dance, Band, Scarf or DD, Specs, Scarf. All work. Note for Regidrago: the 2 whole relevant fairies will drop to EP + Ancient Power Specs, so u don't have to run weird tera blasts, just commit to tera dragon energry.
Can abuse lando, hits hard, resists sucker, breaks tusk, can u-turn. Properties of a potential good mon if you ask me.
Won't explain the rest, their tier name kind of explains the entirety of what I think about them. Ty to anyone who gave it all a read.