Top 10 Titans of the 6th Gen UU Metagame

Shiba · Sep 29, 2016

Approved by Hogg and King UU
General OP idea largely taken from Mr Aldo / Agent Gibbs which was taken from Gary2346
Co-hosted with Pearl

banner by rozes

The 6th gen UU metagame has arguably changed more and more often than almost any other Smogon tier. At the start of the generation, many former OU Pokemon, such as Hydreigon, Jirachi, Celebi, Tentacruel, Starmie, and more, received their chance to shine in the new Smogon UU. XY also introduced a wide variety of 'staple' Pokemon to the tier, such as Florges, Doublade, Slurpuff, and Zygarde, which further diversified the tier. XY didn't just add new Pokemon to the tier. It also introduced a new game mechanic called Mega Evolution, which gave previously mediocre Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Blastoise, Ampharos, and Houndoom a way to assert their influence on the UU metagame. Needless to say, XY UU was definitely one of the most diverse and fun metagames to witness.

A year into the generation, the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire brought new additions that exerted enormous influence over the tier. New pivotal Mega Evolutions such as Mega Sceptile, Pidgeot, Swampert, Beedrill, and Sharpedo quickly started to dominate the tier. Previously mediocre Pokemon like Feraligatr, Tyrantrum, and Dragalge finally gained their hidden abilities, all of which turned them into fearsome wallbreakers the tier had to prepare for. Pokemon we never thought would drop from OU like Mamoswine, Salamence, Sylveon, Conkeldurr, Alakazam and Gyarados, along with the rise of Pokemon like Celebi, Starmie and Jirachi, all heavily influenced UU in their own special ways. Metagame trends caused a sudden increase in the viability of Cobalion, Whimsicott, Cresselia, Doublade, and Reuniclus, resulting in their rise from RU. And here we are in the current ORAS UU metagame!

And thats how you summarize an entire gen in 2 quick paragraphs! But that's not the deal, the real question is: Out of all the amazing Pokemon that graced (or disgraced) this tier, what can we say were the Top 10 that were the most influential? What Pokemon had the bigger impact in the metagame? Some made you run specific Pokemon and sets to handle them? Which one of them shaped the metagame? We need to consider all the questions to find 10 of the most defining Pokemon.

And here is where you, yes you the guy behind the monitor, enter! From September 29th to October 15th you guys will nominate Pokemon to be voted on to be placed as candidates for the Top 10 Titans of 6th Gen UU! After October 14th, we will evaluate all the nominations and begin to individually rank them from 1-10 by vote. All nominations will be counted as long as they fit the criteria and are reasonable. If you're going to nominate something like Vaporeon or Goodra, then everyone will promptly laugh at you. Keep in mind that we aren't ranking on how good a Pokemon is, we are ranking on how influential the Pokemon has been this generation, and how much of an impact it has had on the metagame itself. This is very important when nominating a Pokemon, so please keep that in mind. I obviously missed a good amount of potential titans in the metagame summary tbh.

A general rule of thumb: The Pokemon should have been available at least for 2 or 3 metagame stages in order to accurately determine their influence. Pokemon like: Terrakion, Mega Altaria, Mega Pinsir, Mega Gyarados, etc would be very hard to analyze since they were in the tier for a very small amount of time but Pokemon like Zygarde, Jirachi, Victini and Mega Alakazam can be brought up. Again, 2 or 3 metagame stages (you know like stage 0, 1, 2, 13, the np threads will help with that). And I would recommend for you to be familiar with the metagame of course, living the experience is an important part y'know :V. Also note that I will be grouping Megas and their regular formes (so Pokemon like Alakazam and Swampert will have 1 nomination for its mega + regular form), so be sure to include both formes in the nomination post!

Nominating [Pokemon]

Enter sprite or animated model here.

What effect did [Pokemon] have on the metagame?

Explain how the Pokemon effected the metagame as whole, and how the metagame adapted around it. A brief description of which Pokemon it countered and which Pokemon it did well against would be good here as well.

In what main roles was [Pokemon] used?

Explain why this Pokemon was used on a team more often then most other Pokemon, and what was it particularly used for? What made it so good at this role?

What caused it to have a significant impact?

What exactly made this Pokemon have such a large impact on the metagame? Was it its stats, ability, useful resistances, amazing synergy, or the ability to sweep most of the metagame very easily? Did a certain Pokemon cause it to become that much better when it was partnered with it?

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

What are the best checks/counters to this Pokemon? How does the metagame adapt to this Pokemon?

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You are allowed to reserve nominations, but if you don't post your nomination within 24 hours of reserving it, it will be back up for grabs. I'll try to be as lenient about this as I can, but I also don't want anyone to sit on a nomination for too long. You can also only reserve one nomination at a time, but if you finish one entry, you can reserve a new one.

Have fun!

Highways · Sep 29, 2016

Nominating (Mega) Aerodactyl

What effect did Aerodactyl have on the metagame?

Aerodactyl and its Mega Form are probably the most influential Pokémon in the Metagame actually, while they have different roles and different values. Aerodactyl isn't as good as Mega Aerodactyl is, but I'm not saying that it is bad. Aerodactyl is a pretty good Suicide Lead for Hyper Offense teams, since it's fast as hell and it can Taunt common leads like Azelf. However, Mega Aerodactyl is a very efficient Sweeper that's able to Pursuit trap frail Pokémon, sweep Offense and weakned balance with Hone Claws and use the unconventional Taunt to defeat Walls. If you are not running a Flying resist in your team, be sure that you have ways to defeat Mega Aerodactyl, because it's a threat to be reckoned. Its high Speed and its very good Ability are always helping Mega Aerodactyl to defeat common Grass-, Fire-, Flying- and Fighting-Types with a lot of ease. Mega Aerodactyl has very good coverage moves that - when paired with Pursuit/Hone Claws/Roost - are allowing Mega Aerodactyl to lure Pokémon that are switching-in, like Krookodile and Cobalion.

They roles were basically the same when they were in XY UU. Aerodactyl was a Suicide Lead and Mega Aerodactyl was used as a fast win condition that can defeat unprepared teams with its absurd speed.

In what main roles was Aerodactyl used?

Aerodactyl is always used as a Suicide Lead, since it has a very good Speed, access to Taunt, Stealth Rock, Double Edge to suicide when its HP is at 1% and Flamethrower to lure Forretress.

Mega Aerodactyl has a completely different role, since it's more useful to clean the mid/late-game and Pursuit trap Pokémon than use Stealth Rock. Its Hone Claws set is very dangerous when you don't have an efficient wall that can stop it, and its Pursuit set can trap common Pokémon like Mega Beedrill, Alakazam (and Mega Alakazam in XY), Chandelure, Azelf and other frail Pokémon.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mega Aerodactyl obligated the entire metagame to run a decent Flying resist in every team, this includes Bronzong, Swampert, Suicune and Milotic. Mega Aerodactyl's presence in the tier forced every team to run Stealth Rock, because Mega Aerodactyl is easily worn down. Some cool partners in both XY and ORAS includes Krookodile (able to defeat Steel-types), Celebi (good answer to Bulky Waters) and Alakazam (Alakazam was able o revenge kill Pokémon like Mega Swampert and Jirachi)

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?
The best Offensive answers in XY were Jirachi, Zygarde and Krookodile, Defensive answers includes Swampert, Mega Aggron, Suicune and Umbreon.

In ORAS, the best Offensive answers are Krookodile, Mega Swampert, Cobalion and Doublade, Defensive answers includes Mega Aggron, Suicune, (Mega) Swampert and Mega Steelix.

LeoLancaster · Sep 29, 2016

Reserving Suicune

edit: received permission from Shiba to extend my reservation until 4 pm EST October 1

Shiba · Sep 29, 2016

I'll take Zygarde myself

Ununhexium · Sep 29, 2016

Hydreigon

Killintime · Sep 30, 2016

Nominating: Salamence

What effect did Salamence have on the metagame?

Well to be frank,

What do you get when you introduce a mon with those defences, that speed tier, those abilities and access to defog, iron tail, dragon dance, fire blast, earthquake, draco meteor/outrage, roost, and roar into the UU metagame? If you hadn't figured it out you should rethink the idea of playing Russian roulette with Ivan since this is exactly what it was. Upon falling down to UU mence had the edge over other dragons such as hydreigon and haxorus due to its speed tier and move pool, in fact it was so influential it may was well have wiped haxorus right off the map. To take things further great mons such as infernape, heracross, mienshao, lucario, and krook were being overshadowed and either had to run odd coverage like HP ice in infernapes case to try and slam mence or simply try to catch it on the switch in. Moves like stone edge worked okayish versus offensive mence sets if rocks were up, otherwise the damn thing would just spam roost if it was faster than the mon trying to kill it. Every few weeks or so you could literally feel the current "most effective" offence set change depending on what people were doing to try and stop mence such as focusing on phys walls like forre or attempting to counter it with random ice beam mons like regular pert. About the only times you could tell which wall could deal with mence on team preview was if it was obviously special or fat mence. If that wasn't enough for you the darn thing was also an incredibly good partner to almost every offensive mon in the tier (which in my opinion was the whole start to this stupidly offensive metagame in UU) offering hazard removal, or simply being a switch in to a large amount of the tier due to its incredible typing and speed.

In what main roles was Salamence used?

Oh boy, I may as well list these off eh?

Lum berry intimidate/moxie DD sweeper
Specially offensive LO defog
Scarf sweeper
Fat physically defensive defogger
Mixed moxie physically biased DD sweeper
Banded wall breaker

Now don't get me wrong there were quite a few more sets, they just were not "main roles" in my opinion. Just running mence gave your opponent a sense of dread at the possibly enormous threat of DD just patiently waiting for its chance to dance once and allow you to play the game of "K whats the move set?". Part of the reason I feel people started running iron tail on hydreigon was them realising hey wait....can't this get past faries as well? To be more specific this mon could compress a fire, fighting, ground, grass, and steel check in one mon while also offering you defog or a win condition. This quickly made it a staple on stall and offensive builds since you could literally take care of most of what you need to in the meta by simply slapping on a mence. This was one of those mons that only somewhat needed support if you were running the DD sets and needed to get rocks off the field to prepare for a DD sweep which it could easily manage with itself even without the intimidate thanks to its typing and natural bulk. A lot of the time (such as in the case of moxie) it used to just snowball on slower teams after just revenging something for a moxie boost. The largest switch it probably had was when people realised that we could use that 110 sp.attack to do more than just fire blast a forre on a physical set, eventually giving rise to a defogger who didnt completely fall apart after eating a scald or entei burn to clear the field. Physically defensive mence also toke this role on earlier giving fatter teams the ability to clear hazards and even roost on banded heracross stone edge if it felt like doing so, worst case it had roar for phasing and toxic for pesky walls that try to out stall it.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

To reiterate my unintelligible past salt rant, the biggest factors in mences UU career were:

Its speed allowing it to jump right over dreigon and haxorus
Incredibly large attack stats
Great natural bulk allowing it to eat even some super effective hits such as mega aero stone edge thanks to intimidate
Stupidly good move pool
A method to boosting speed and attack at the same time
The utilities it offered

These factors allowed it to "support" many of UUs threats such as entei, mamo, lucario, etc due to its ability to break, switch into, or clear hazards for said partner. Hell most of the time teams built around one of these offensive mons end up having mence shine the most in actual play anyways. Thanks to its move pool you could imagine yourself playing digimon adventures just clicking buttons after 1 DD and you'll at least score 2 kills thanks to 135 base attack.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Lol good one, but in all seriousness peoples method of dealing with mence changed depending on the meta stage. The one true check that stood out to me I suppose would be Shuca berry empoleon since its main job would be to simply wait for the time mence has decided to go for the sweep then just eat any one hit mence could possibly use and kill with ice beam. There was also ice beam cress which basically toke care of every mence set there was or at least put it in a position to be revenged by having it lock into outrage. Personally I would try to either bait out mences outrage in order to kill it with a fairy or spend the game figuring out its entire move set through a series of scout switching to see if it could directly threaten a specific check with its move pool. That latter strategy became increasingly hard to pull off towards the end of mences UU career with LO mixed moxie/standard moxie rise in popularity making every switch hit incredibly hard with one mistake basically forcing the x button on slower teams. Lo draco was generally easy to deal with if it wasnt hiding a surprise iron tail for you but just having access to fire blast meant forre wasnt capable of really "countering" even physical mence sets until they were baited into an outrage so you could freely gyro on it. So a large portion of countering mence was scouting/making an educated guess on what set it was running and trying to check it with mons like florges, swampert, whimsicott, E-speed users, cresselia, empoleon, sceptile, mamoswine, doublade, scarf dreigon, and mega aggron. Most of which are easily worn down or hard to fit on teams.

esche · Sep 30, 2016

Nominating Mega Pidgeot

What effect did Mega-Pidgeot have on the metagame?

Pidgeot Mega Edition™ was introduced to the UU metagame in November 2014. It was one of the several additions of Mega Pokémon to the UU tier that ORAS brought along. While Pidgeot was overlooked at first with Mega Pokémon such as Gallade, Diancie, Lopunny and Altaria running rampage the first few weeks of ORAS, it quickly rose in usage after they were banned/moved up from UU. It took advantage of the lack of solid Flying resists and therefore initiated a notable usage increase of specially defensive Empoleon, Porygon2 as well as both Choice Scarf and defensive Rotom-H. Several Grass types like Shaymin and Chesnaught dropped in usage as they gave Pidgeot a switch in opportunity. Pidgeot eventually became known as the bane of many defensive and balance-ish builds which struggled to deal with its stallbreaker set, while all-out-attacking variants were much easier to handle with for them. Offensive builds had a much better shot at pressuring and revenge killing Mega Pidgeot, but also a harder time switching into Hurricane and possible coverage. While it only was placed in the S-Rank of the viability ranking shortly before its departure to BL in July 2015, there was no doubt that it had been a top tier threat and defining force for several months of the ORAS UU metagame.

In what main roles was Mega-Pidgeot used?

Mega Pidgeot had two main roles: AoA with Hurricane, Heat Wave, Roost and U-turn, which acted as a fast and powerful special attacker that could easily grab momentum, and the stallbreaker set, which made use of the combination of Work Up, Refresh and Roost. This set turned a number of specially defensive walls into set up material, making this set a nightmare for defensive builds to face. Generally, the lack of solid Flying resists in UU is what made Mega Pidgeot excel at its role and is part of the reason why it was ultimately banned from the tier.

As for competition: There wasn't really anything that could compare to Mega Pidgeot, which is simply due to the fact that specially offensive Flying types are hard to come by. LO Tornadus is probably the closest comparison to Mega Pidgeot's AoA set, but it was a lot less consistent due to the lack of No Guard, lower speed and lack of recovery. As a result Tornadus' main role shifted to the rain support set instead. Noivern sports a similar speed tier and has more coverage options, but lacks power, the ability to efficiently stallbreak and has accuracy issues compared to Mega Pidgeot.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Simply put, Mega Pidgeot's ability to spam a 100% accurate, 110 base power Flying STAB move coming from a 135 SpAtk stat with an additional 30% chance of confusion was the #1 reason of its large impact. It also has solid coverage in Heat Wave to dent most Steel types, access to U-turn and reliable recovery in Roost, combined with base 121 Speed that naturally outspeeds the majority of the UU metagame. Hidden Power Water, while uncommon, was an option to catch Mega Aerodactyl, Rotom-H and Rhyperior on the switch-in. Despite Mega Pidgeot's offensive nature it still had acceptable bulk that let it pull off the stallbreaker set as well as living powerful neutral hits (Choice Scarf Salamence's Outrage, Mega Alakzam's Psychic, Mega Beedrill's Poison Jab and Choice Scarf Hydreigon's Draco Meteor all come to mind) from full HP. Sporting two type immunities in Ghost and Ground, Mega Pidgeot even provided some defensive utility that could grant it a switch-in opportunity.

As for partners, the AoA set was commonly paired with powerful physical attackers like Entei and Mienshao that took advantage Mega Pidgeot's ability to force in specially defensive walls, U-turn on the switch and pressure the opposing team from there. Krookodile was one of Pidgeot's best partners due to its ability to threaten and trap/damage the majority of its counters, set up Stealth Rock, use Knock Off to negate passive recovery and to check Mega Aerodactyl with the help of Intimidate. The stallbreaker set on the other hand was more self-sufficient because it was able to overwhelm its counters by itself, even though it did appreciate the removal of Steel types. However, every Pidgeot had to be paired with sturdy Mega Aerodactyl answers, which, regarding Mega Aerodactyl had been an S-Rank threat for the longest time, had to be prepared for anyway.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Even though base 121 is a great speed tier, it left Mega Pidgeot susceptible to Pokémon like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Beedrill, Mega Alakazam and Choice Scarf users as Salamence, Mienshao and Hydreigon, which all could OHKO the bird after Stealth Rock damage. Defensive answers to Mega Pidgeot included Empoleon, Rotom-H, Porygon2, Mega Ampharos, Rhyperior and Blissey, even though the latter is beaten 1v1 with the stallbreaker set. Steel types like Mega Aggron and Jirachi could also stomach a hit but were weak to Heat Wave. Generally, choosing someething to switch into Mega Pidgeot was never an easy task: The AoA set could very well just U-turn to safely bring in a wallbreaker, while the stallbreaker set could start to set up, invalidating a number of safe checks. With all that there was still the possibility of Hurricane confusing the opponent and giving Pidgeot the opportunity to actually stay in and chip health from a supposed counter or even outright beat it. It was mandatory to gain intel which set Pidgeot was running in order to play around it from a defensive standpoint, which could prove to be difficult without having to possibly sacrifice a Pokémon.

feel free to contact me if i missed sth important n_n

dodmen · Sep 30, 2016

Victini

What effect did Victini have on the metagame?

Victini was the premier wallbreaker of the tier for the entirety of XY. Its Choice Band set alone was so effective and threatening that it was featured on two of the four XY UU RMTs in the RMT archive: King UU's VoltTurn Balance, and Bouffalant's Perilous Change. Later in the generation, it was quick banned, followed by a council suspect resulting in it remaining banned, later followed by a public suspect test also resulting it remaining banned.

Victini was most commonly paired with a second wallbreaker that could take advantage of the checks that it U-turned out of - common choices were CB Krookodile, CB Heracross, Crawdaunt (when it was allowed), Mega Ampharos, Hydreigon, and Specs Magneton. In fact, a common team structure was Victini + second wallbreaker + 4 defensive Pokemon or pivots, due to how effective this strategy was (this can be seen in King UU's VoltTurn). Victini's presence led to many metagame developments, some of which are still present in ORAS UU. Pursuit Mega Aerodactyl was created mainly as a way to reliably trap Victini. Sub CM Chandelure was developed as a sweeper that could take advantage of choice locked VCreate. Pokemon like Nidoqueen, Mega Blastoise, Suicune, and Mew were always EVd to outspeed a -1 Victini. Rocky Helmet was used on Pokemon like Slowbro and Arcanine to punish U-turns

In what main roles was [Pokemon] used?

Victini had many available switchin opportunities when it was in the tier against common Pokemon such as Florges, Jirachi, and Cobalion. Once it was in, there was very little you could do to stop it from demolishing your team. Nearly every fire-neutral Pokemon was OHKOd by V-create, even bulky offensive Pokemon such as Krookodile through Intimidate and Nidoqueen. Most bulky Water simply dropped to CB Bolt Strike. The remaining few Pokemon who could stomach either attack, such as Snorlax, Swampert, and Hydreigon were either simply U-turned on or chunked for about 40% before being forced to Rest in the case of the former two. A mixed set was also certainly viable to break down these checks and to avoid reliance on the risky V-Create, which made Victini even scarier to play against.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Essentially, Victini's unparalleled coverage, ridiculous V-Create, and solid base stats made it the top wallbreaker of the metagame.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

The most common way to deal with Victini was Pursuit trapping it after a V-Create, though this usually meant that Victini had already gotten a kill. Slowbro, Suicune, Snorlax, and Swampert were Victini's most common direct switchins, though all of them were threatened by a Uturn out into a common partner. Otherwise, offensive teams were likely forced to pivot into something like Hydreigon, Mega Blastoise, or their own Victini, tank V-Create for around 70%, and go from there.

Ununhexium · Sep 30, 2016

can I have an extension on Hydra something came up and I'm really busy tonight but I'll do it tomorrow morning

Vague · Sep 30, 2016

Nominating: Celebi

What effect did Celebi have on the Metagame?

For starters its reintroduction to UU has centered teams around an effective and now common core of Celebi / Krookodile and most commonly Sylveon or Conkeldurr, it demanded unorthodox lures such as Signal Beam Suicune and Pin Missile Forretress to avoid struggling against it, and it (as well as the other recent drops) placed a huge amount of strain against bulkier, slower teams with the amount of power it accumulate quickly which has increased the popularity of offensive teams even more. It literally has 100's across the STAT board which makes it incredibly resilient, decently fast, and strong enough to be the woe and savior of the tier. It's movepool is deeper than the Pacific Ocean with excellent offensive options such as Leaf Storm, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Earth Power, and Psychic as well as a similarly deep supportive movepool with gems like Healing Wish, Stealth Rock, Perish Song, and Heal Bell. It even created a pseudo-playstyle called Celepass where Celebi would have a setup move (usually Nasty Plot or Swords Dance) paired with Baton Pass to make any desired Pokemon on your team much more destructive and threatening. Scarf Hydreigon and Mega Sharpedo are examples of common Nasty Plot and Swords Dance recipients that became much more deadlier with Celebi's support. Celebi has also nearly eclipsed the other Grass-types that reside in the tier completely through virtue of solid bulk, incredible versatility, and insane splashability that allowed it to fit on every single archetype and pair well with nearly everything in the tier. Shaymin has practically fallen off the face of the earth, Roserade is often used simply for its access to Spikes, only Mega Sceptile is still going strong. All in all, Celebi is a King of UU and will likely remain so the weeks of the generation.

In what main roles was Celebi used?

There isn't exactly a "main role" for Celebi. It realistically could do nearly anything you'd want it to. It's most reknown for its Nasty Plot set which demolishes bulkier teams with unearthly ease, it could run an effective offensive and defensive Stealth Rock set, it can function as a wall with its great defensive typing, it could even run a Choice Scarf set! Whatever you want Celebi to fulfill it will often do so effectively.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

In short, Celebi has an insane amounts of versatility in tandem with great all-around STATs and movepool that gives it the just right tools it needs to excel at what you task it to do nearly every time.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Offensive teams often deal Celebi through revenge killing it with Pokemon such as Mega Aerodactyl, Crobat, and Mega Beedrill. Additionally, Pursuit trapping is also a countermeasure against it, but it sometimes forces 50/50's due to Celebi having the ability to heavily damage the trapper if it decides to not switch-out or if utilizing a Colbur Berry. Pokemon that can take a hit from it and immediately threaten it like Entei are also softer forms of counterplay. More defensive or slower teams often deal with Celebi through special tanks and walls such as Blissey, Snorlax, and Escavalier. However, they can't deal with every Celebi set. For example, Blissey and Snorlax actually lose to Nasty Plot sets and Escavalier is taken down by the rare Hidden Power Fire. Due to this, these types of teams usually make sure to utilize a Pokemon that can revenge kill or trap it as an attempt to adapt to Celebi.

Apologies if this isn't as in-depth as expected. I haven't experienced Celebi's influence until now unlike seasoned veterans.

Shiba · Sep 30, 2016

Nominating Zygarde

What effect did Zygarde have on the metagame?

For players that didn't play much XY or not at all, Zygarde reigned supreme. With VERY solid stats across the board (108/100/121/81/95/95) and a wide variety of sets like SubCoil, Dragon Dance, Defensive, and even Choice Banded sets, it was extremely hard to take this thing down/account for this thing without running very niche sets. It was retested twice by the UU council before being banned, sitting atop the UU Viability Rankings for what seemed like forever in the transition to ORAS. As for its effect on the metagame, it forced a TON of Pokemon to either run Ice coverage (i.e Sub Beam Suicune or Ice Beam Vaporeon (Vaporeon was good back then!), Ice Fang Aerodactyl, Ice Fang Hippowdon, etc) or even HP Ice on random Pokemon that didn't have any natural coverage for it. In the time it was in the tier, it also forced a spike in usage of physically defensive Florges, Aromatisse, and could even take credit for the discovery of a solid Pokemon like Whimsicott, which walled its most common set. Overall, it was pretty surprising how long Zygarde actually stayed in the tier despite the pressure it put on teambuilding

In what main roles was Zygarde used?

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, it had a variety of sets, which in turn played a variety of different roles. Its main sets were SubCoil, Dragon Dance (with its access to ExtremeSpeed this set was so good), Defensive, and even Choice Band sets were used.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Zygarde's unparalleled bulk, versatility as a set-up sweeper, fantastic typing, and its constriction (haha its a snake!) on teambuilding made it have a huge impact on the tier for the time it was here.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

The spike in usage of Physically Defensive Fairies were obviously a catalyst for the no-ban argument which included things like Florges, Aromatisse, and Whimsicott. There were also examples of Pokemon that had to run niche Ice-type coverage just for the Dragon. Some of these examples had to be Ice Fang Aerodactyl, Ice Fang Hippowdon, Ice Beam Suicune or Vaporeon, and the list goes on and on.

Mazz · Sep 30, 2016

Nominating Jirachi

What effect did Jirachi have on the metagame?

For those that joined Smogon post-ORAS or didn't have any interest in UU during the early to middle stages of UU during XY, Jirachi was a ridiculously common and versatile threat that had to be prepared for. Notorious for beating things that SHOULD have beaten it (ie: Magnezone, Fire-types, Ground-types, etc) by abusing Body Slam and Iron Head through Serene Grace, Jirachi was abhorrently frustrating to play against. Jirachi was one of a few pokemon through Gen VI Underused that always maintained the element of surprise since it could do nearly anything you could think of, which only supplanted it as a threat.

In what main roles was Jirachi used?

Jirachi was more than a textbook gluemon in Underused: it was the premier gluemon during its run in the metagame and nothing in today's metagame parallels the utility Jirachi brought to the table. People talk about Celebi's seemingly infinite list of viable sets, and while such exaggerations may be warranted, Jirachi had even more utility. Its better defensive typing and effectively unending movepool made Jirachi nearly impossible to scout until it had revealed its entire set. Needed a Choice Scarf user? Jirachi. Rocks? Jirachi. Need a Wishpasser? Jirachi. Its vast coverage options, ranging from Grass Knot to the elemental punches to Thunderbolt to Water Pulse, Jirachi essentially had a way of beating anything you could throw at it. Trick even gave it the ability to cripple things like Blissey and Porygon2. If something didn't carry Earthquake or a reasonably powerful Dark- or Fire-type move, Jirachi could usually check it through Paralysis and Flinch alone.

Some of its common sets included: SpDef Stealth Rocks, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, SubToxic, SubCM, or an Expert Belt mixed attacker.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Serene Grace and a movepool that abused the living hell out of it. Swampert et al may have been equally viable Stealth Rock users, Hydreigon, Mienshao, and company may have been better Scarfers, etc. However, the ability to status an opponent 20-60% of the time and the ability to flinch said opponent 60% of the time was such a huge selling point. Access to U-turn, Wish, 101HP Substitutes, Doom Desire, Trick, Healing Wish, and insane coverage only made Jirachi an even more appealing add to a team. It could do anything you needed it to and was nearly always successful in doing so.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

The best way to beat Jirachi was to exploit its typing or lack of immediate power. Akin to any Psychic- or Steel-type in today's metagame, threats like Hydreigon, Krookodile, and Entei had to be played around smartly. Bulky Pokemon that didn't mind the effects of Paralysis, such as Mega Aggron or Mega Steelix, were very reliable Jirachi checks as they really only feared CB Fire Punch. However, Bronzong and other bulky Steel-types that were vulnerable to Trick had to be sure of its set before coming in.

Bulky Water-types were usually a safe bet for handling Jirachi: the only things they really needed to worry about was Trick, status, or sets running Grass Knot. If Jirachi lacked Trick or Grass Knot, it had to rely on Body Slam + Iron Head to get the job done. While not an impossibility, things like Suicune and Miltoic would usually come out on top.

Pearl · Oct 1, 2016

Punchshroom · Oct 1, 2016

Nominating Krookodile.

What effect did Krookodile have on the metagame?

Krookodile has been a UU mainstay since the very beginning of the tier's formation, and has established itself as one of the most useful Pokemon in the tier. Krookodile has great power, a decent Speed stat, and most importantly its unique dual STAB combination, which gives it all the qualities to be one of the most fearsome and consistent immediate attackers in UU. Its Speed and access to Intimidate also made it one of the premier offensive Stealth Rockers of the tier, making Krookodile rather versatile and easily splashable on most offensive or balanced teams.

In what main roles was Krookodile used?

Giving Krookodile offensively-inclined investment is always the best option to maximize the effectiveness of Krookodile's terrific STAB combination, allowing it to serve as an effective holepuncher. However, that didn't mean Krookodile is exclusively relegated to offensive roles. Intimidate is great for checking physical threats in cases of emergency or simply making opposing Pokemon easier to revenge kill by weakening their coverage moves or priority attacks. Even if Intimdiate Krookodile has a bad matchup against the physical threat, Krookodile's power often prevents them from being able to set up safely to regain their power. Krookodile can use this opportunity to either launch powerful blows boosted by Choice Band, Earth Plate, or Dread Plate, or alternatively set up Stealth Rock. Choice Scarf is another role Krookodile can pull off, as it better takes advantage of Pursuit to pick off threats and Moxie to sweep late-game.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Krookodile proved to be a very efficient attacker, with its primary attacks consisting of powerful drawback-free moves such as Earthquake and Knock Off, which can be hard to shrug off, much less resist. It also has moves such as Superpower, Stone Edge, and Pursuit to make it even more difficult to work around. Krookodile's amazing abilities elevated its presence even further, with Intimidate allowing Krookodile to offensively check a greater variety of physical threats more comfortably, such as Entei, Mega Aerodactyl, Swords Dance Lucario, Metagross, and Toxicroak, whereas Moxie takes advantage of Krookodile's great STAB moves to boost its cleaning power with a Choice Scarf set. Its numerous qualities made it a very appealing consideration for a wide variety of teams, boosting its prominence amidst the tier.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Krookodile is still outsped by a decent majority of offensive Pokemon in the tier, almost all of which are capable of hitting Krookodile's many weaknesses. Fast offensive attackers such as Hydreigon, Mega Beedrill, Mega Sceptile, Cobalion, offensive Tentacruel, Whimsicott, Infernape, Kyurem, Tornadus, and Mienshao are easily capable of picking off a healthy Krookodile. Krookodile's dual STAB combination isn't perfectly neutral against the tier either, as Pokemon such as Whimsicott, Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Chesnaught, and Heracross can resist both Earthquake and Knock Off and retaliate, or simply wall Krookodile out in Mandibuzz's case. Krookodile is also vulnerable to a variety of priority moves, such as Mamoswine's Ice Shard, Crawdaunt's Aqua Jet, Conkeldurr's and Infernape's Mach Punch, or Vacuum Wave from Infernape, Lucario, and Toxicroak. Krookodile can also struggle against some Pokemon that it fails to KO in one blow, such as Sylveon, Gyarados, Conkeldurr, and especially bulky Water-types such as Swampert, Mega Blastoise, Suicune, Alomomola, and Milotic.

Bouff · Oct 1, 2016

nominating / reserving mew

Ununhexium · Oct 1, 2016

Nominating Hydreigon

What effect did Hydreigon have on the metagame?

Hydreigon is, simply put, one of the best Pokemon to ever grace the UU tier. Thanks to its great power and decent Speed and bulk, Hydreigon has been able to remain a strong Pokemon throughout the generation. With a Life Orb equipped, it can destroy many common defensive and balance cores with a combination of its STAB moves and either Taunt and Roost or a combination of Superpower, Iron Tail, and Roost. It can also run a Choice Specs set with great effect and a Choice Scarf set that decimates offensive teams. Hydreigon itself is a huge part of the reason a Fairy-type is a necessity on pretty much every non-hyper offense team in the metagame.

In what main roles was Hydreigon used?

Hydreigon is primarily an offensive Pokemon, used either as an incredible wallbreaker or a great revenge killer. Thanks to its great attacking stats, decent Speed, and respectable bulk (and resistances!), Hydreigon can easily come in on a bunch of Pokemon and outspeed and hit them for a good chunk of damage with a Life Orb or Choice Specs set. Hydreigon was also an excellent revenge killer with a Choice Scarf equipped and could do a solid number against offense, hitting Pokemon that resist its STAB moves hard. For example, standard Cobalion, on a resisted hit, still takes over 40% from Choice Scarf Hydreigon's Draco Meteor.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Hydreigon's impact was a result of its ability to come in on a bunch of threats and fire off powerful attacks and smash basically anything in front of one of its three faces. It is a great offensive check to many common threats and even has the bulk and resistances to come in on some threats and fire off a Draco Meteor or Dark Pulse.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Hydreigon is nigh-impossible to switch into thanks to its amazing coverage options. However, it should be noted that by doing one thing, it sacrifices another. The key to dealing with Hydreigon is to scout out its set. If you can determine what move it isn't running, it becomes much easier to handle. The absolute hardest to switch into is the four attacks Life Orb set, but with that it sacrifices Roost and a lot of durability. If it is running Roost, it likely isn't running Iron Tail, and your Fairy-type is basically a free switch-in. Choice Scarf sets are easier to handle for bulky teams to scout the move and act accordingly, but decimate offensive teams with fast, strong hits.

LeoLancaster · Oct 1, 2016

Nominating Suicune.

What effect did Suicune have on the metagame?

Suicune has been a major force throughout Generation 6 UU. Thanks to its phenomenal 100 / 115 / 115 defensive stats, decent Speed and Special Attack, good defensive typing in pure Water, access to Scald, Calm Mind, Roar, and somewhat reliable recovery in Rest + Sleep Talk, Suicune is one of the most influential and iconic defensive Pokemon of the XY and ORAS UU Tiers. Fantastic bulk and solid typing allowed it to check a wide variety of offensive Pokemon, including a majority of physical attackers and some key special attackers, making it a staple on every playstyle besides stall (which preferred Slowbro or Alomomola) and fast paced offensive teams. Further, thanks to Calm Mind, Roar, and Scald's burn chance, Suicune was surprisingly non-passive for a blanket wall, being able to function as a win condition, phaze opposing bulky set-up sweepers which would otherwise beat it such as Reuniclus and Slowking, and hinder physical attackers such as Feraligatr from setting up on it even when forgoing Roar.

The impact Suicune had on the metagame is undeniable. The deadliness of its dedicated sweeping sets and the difficulty of outright breaking it mandated solid checks, often multiple, on every successful team. Special attacking Grass- and Electric-types, Dry Skin / Water Absorb users, and Guts users were the most common ways of dealing with Suicune, as they could resist or take advantage of Scald while hitting it for super effective damage or using it as set up fodder. Prominent examples from various metagame stages include Raikou, Zapdos, Mega Sceptile, Celebi, Toxicroak, Heracross, and Conkeldurr. Certain Pokemon could check Suicune depending on the set, such as Reuniclus beating non-Roar Suicune by avoiding Burn damage from Scald and winning a Calm Mind war with Psyshock. Furthermore, certain Pokemon which would seem to easily check Suicune, such as Heliolisk and Jellicent, would have to run specialized sets in order to beat it; Heliolisk needs Choice Specs in order to reliably break Suicune after a Calm Mind boost, and Jellicent must run enough Speed EVs to outspeed and Taunt Suicune to prevent it from using Rest, lest it get PP stalled thanks to Pressure.

In what main roles was Suicune used?

As mentioned above, Suicune's main role was a blanket wall to a majority of physical attackers and key special attackers while being non-passive thanks to Scald, Calm Mind, and Roar. However, the specifics of how Suicune functioned depends on what combination of Calm Mind, Roar, and Sleep Talk it chose to run (with Scald and Rest being mandatory on defensive sets). Calm Mind + Sleep Talk, aka the famous CroCune, was often the deadliest and most reliable win condition as it could set up the easiest thanks to Sleep Talk allowing it to gain extra Calm Mind boosts or simply straight up attack with Scald while Resting. Roar + Sleep Talk gave up the ability to sweep for the ability to be a reliable phazer, allowing it to rack up damage from entry hazards and keep dangerous threats such as Feraligatr, Gyarados, and Reuniclus at bay. Calm Mind + Roar was a good compromise between the other two sets, being able to both sweep and phaze at the cost of being more prone to strong hits forcing it to Rest and become immobile for two turns.

Suicune also had offensive sets, usually consisting of Calm Mind, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, one of Tailwind, Substitute, Hidden Power Electric, Signal Beam, or Extrasensory, and a more offensively inclined EV spread. While much less common than the defensive sets, these could bypass some of Suicune's usual checks thanks to the extra coverage and power, while also fitting better on certain offensive teams. Offensive Suicune could also set up on and beat common special walls such as Florges, Umbreon, and even potentially Blissey, giving it a good matchup against a lot of teams which didn't prepare for these much less common variants of Suicune.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The combination of amazing bulk, solid typing, and access to Calm Mind, Scald, and Roar were the biggest factors in Suicune's success. These tools allowed it to be incredibly useful for checking a wide swath of the metagame while simultaneously being a deadly win condition and/or reliable phazer. It was difficult to break, dangerous to give free turns to, and easily found its way onto the field. You'd be hard pressed to find a more splashable, reliable, and threatening wall in the tier.

How do/did you deal with Suicune in UU?

Specially offensive Grass types, such as Celebi, Mega Sceptile, and Rotom-C, resist Water, can hit Suicune super effectively, and perhaps most importantly can still break Suicune after being burnt by Scald. They can often break Suicune even after a Calm Mind boost as well, or win the boosting war thanks to advantageous typing. Dry Skin and Water Absorb users can be reliable Suicune checks thanks to the Water immunity, but might have to run a specialized set to truly break Suicune (as mentioned above with Heliolisk and Jellicent). Guts users, such as Conkeldurr and Heracross, can take advantage of Scald burns and either set up with Swords Dance or Bulk Up, or straight up attack with potentially Choice Band boosted moves. Other Electric types which lack the extra Water resistant typing or Ability, such as Raikou and Zapdos, were also good checks thanks to their typing advantage; however, they could also have more trouble with Scald than the previously mentioned checks. There are also softer checks, such as physically offensive Grass types, certain Taunt users such as Mandibuzz, and Acid Spray or Haze Tentacruel.

There are some notable ways the metagame adapted around Suicune other than the commonly used checks. Substitute Feraligatr was originally designed to avoid Scald burns from Suicune (and other bulky Water-types), which in turn caused Roar Suicune to become more common. While not solely for Suicune, some Pokemon would run coverage moves that let them hit Suicune harder than otherwise, such as Thunderbolt on Nidoqueen, Grass Knot on Infernape, and Thunder Punch on AV Conkeldurr.

In a lot of ways, though, Suicune adapted to the metagame more than the metagame adapted to it. When Substitute Feraligatr and Calm Mind Reuniclus became popular, Roar Suicune came into its own as a method of letting Suicune check them instead of the other way around. Offensive sets always let Suicune bypass some of its usual checks thanks to the extra power and coverage, with certain coverage moves becoming particularly useful when specific checks gained prominence; the most notable examples are Extrasensory to beat Toxicroak and Heracross, and Signal Beam to OHKO Celebi at +1.

Bouff · Oct 2, 2016

What effect did Mew have on the metagame?

Mew was a mainstay on nearly every balance / defensively-oriented team for the majority of XY until it rose along with Slowbro and Heracross. Its movepool allowed it to fill a multitude of roles, and coupled with its bulk it could do nearly everything, although it was mainly used as a wall that had a flexible moveset based on the team.

In what main roles was Hydreigon used?

It was the go-to for most balance teams as a Nido answer, could cripple most physical attackers through Will-o-Wisp, and was a good way to pressure set up sweepers like Slowbro. The set had other lesser-used options over Knock Off, like Psychic to cover Heracross, or Ice Beam to deal with Zygarde when it was in the tier. Defog was also an option over Taunt if the team valued hazard control more. There were lesser used sets, particularly SD / NP pass sets, standalone sweeper sets, and lead SR sets, although these sets were generally better off on other Pokemon.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Mew was part of the infamous pink core, which it shared with Slowbro and Florges, although there were variations during different stages of XY where Pokemon like Gligar, Aromatisse, Blissey, and Granbull were used depending on the team. The core in itself covered so many Pokemon that the other slots were generally used to cover smaller issues with the team, typically using Pokemon like Krookodile or Victini to keep up offensive pressure. Bad Ass's Interstate 8 effectively utilizes the core while complimenting it with Dugtrio + Toxic Spikes + Sableye, breaking down the backbone of other defensive teams. The amount of balance teams that revolved around Mew made it an extremely centralizing force in the metagame.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Mega Houndoom was one of the most prominent Megas in the early stages of XY before Hydreigon had been unbanned through council voting, and was a reliable answer to the specially defensive set as it took little damage from Knock Off and absorbed Will-o-Wisp. In a similar vein, Mega Absol could take advantage of Magic Bounce and switch into Mew reliably and use it as setup bait. While both of these Pokemon were still good choices after Hydreigon was unbanned, they became less popular as Scarf Hydreigon could reliably check both of them. Offensive Fire-types like Choice Band Victini, Chandelure, Infernape, and Arcanine were also good checks to Mew, although none of them liked having their item knocked off. Nasty Plot Infernape became popular as a mon that could set up on Mew. Fletchinder, while largely uncommon in XY, was an underrated answer to Mew as it could absorb Knock Off / Wisp and set up on it, although it required much more support as compared to other Fire-types. Sableye was arguably the most consistent answer to Mew, as it could stall out Mew thanks to Prankster, although taking a burn makes Sableye easier to pressure from other mons. Offense mainly had Hydreigon and Heracross along with Tini as checks, although Hydrei doesn't like taking burns even if running Roost. Although it doesn't beat Mew, it's worth noting that Aromatisse had a niche of being immune to Taunt, meaning that unlike Florges it could reliably pass Wishes and heal status for the rest of its team. While Mew had its fair share of answers, it required little support to patch up its weaknesses and could cripple some of its answers through Wisp and Knock Off.

Sacri' · Oct 2, 2016

reserving mega alakazam

bsu · Oct 2, 2016

reserving entei

edit: can i finish it up on friday plz

ehT · Oct 3, 2016

Nominating Sylveon

What effect did Sylveon have on the metagame?

After years of being outclassed in OU, Sylveon finally came to UU in spring 2016, to both the excitement and the horror of many. Between its obscenely powerful Choice Specs set and its sturdy cleric set, Sylveon provided much for the tier, most notably a reliable offensive Dragon resist, which was, until then, nigh unprecedented in UU, with options being limited to Whimsicott, Cobalion, and, in earlier iterations of UU, Jirachi. This made sturdy Fairy resists, such as Bronzong, Escavalier, specially defensive Arcanine, and Mega Steelix, more important than ever on bulkier teams, while frailer teams more or less gave up on switching in altogether, and resorted to offensive pressure from the likes of Entei, Choice Band Krookodile, and Hydreigon sporting Steel coverage. The cleric set was, in many ways, functionally identical to longtime UU staple Florges, but I will cover the differences between the two later.

In what main roles was Sylveon used?

Sylveon could viably pull off both an offensive set with Choice Specs and a defensive cleric set, allowing it to be extremely splashable on a wide array of playstyles, due to the sheer number of threats it covered defensively. The former gives Sylveon its most unique niche, firing off ridiculously powerful Hyper Voices, while also sporting great defensive utility through its 95 / 65 / 130 bulk and amazing set of resistances. This made Specs Sylveon an fantastic asset for offensive teams, due to its ability to reliably pivot into and subsequently punish opponents that it resisted, most notably Hydreigon, the most powerful Pokemon in the tier. The cleric set filled the shoes of Florges as one of the best Wish passers around, with larger Wishes, access to Baton Pass, and an even more difficult to switch into Fairy move than Florges' deceptively powerful Moonblast. Although there were other viable options, such as Calm Mind Snore, these were uncommon, due to either lack of applications or being overshadowed, and thus were usually not considered in standard teambuilding.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Both of the aforementioned sets make use of Sylveon's magnificent Hidden Ability, Pixilate, which gives it a 117 Base Power STAB move with no drawbacks in Hyper Voice. Combine this with acceptable coverage, great bulk, the ability to gain momentum in Baton Pass, and the tier's exploitably small list of viable Fairy resists (most of which were easily dispatched by its partner in crime, Krookodile), and you have one of the most powerful wallbreakers in the tier. As mentioned before, Sylveon's cleric set was more or less functionally identical to Florges, although Florges nonetheless stayed relevant with its one-turn recovery in Synthesis, superior Speed, and slightly higher Special Defense.

How do/did you deal with Sylveon in UU?

For most frail offensive teams, switching into Specs Sylveon reliably was but a dream, with even the sturdiest offensive Fairy resist, Entei, taking half from Modest-natured Hyper Voice. However, due to Sylveon's exploitably low Defense and Speed stats and vulnerability to hazards, pressuring it offensively was a very manageable task. The aforementioned Entei threatened to wipe Specs Sylveon off the map with its Choice Band boosted Fire moves, as did other wallbreakers, such as Nidoqueen, Mamoswine, and Metagross. Some bulky offense teams, usually those carrying a sturdy Steel type, stood a chance to switch in, but those were all vulnerable to Sylveon's best partner, Krookodile. Balance and stall teams had many more options at their disposal for taking on Specs Sylveon, due to the abundance of special walls, pivots, and tanks to choose from, such as Mega Steelix, Bronzong, specially defensive Arcanine, and Blissey. The cleric set was, arguably, much easier to handle, due to its drastically lesser damage output. Offense could simply switch in their Entei, Metagross, or Nidoqueen, take minimal damage from uninvested Hyper Voice, and force it to switch out, while bulkier teams could wear it down over time through entry hazards and other sources of chip damage.

11pikabro · Oct 6, 2016

Reserving / Nominating Florges

MegaFlareon · Oct 6, 2016

Nominating Slowbro

What effect did Slowbro have on the metagame?

Slowbro was the premier physical wall during its time in XY. Thanks to its physical bulk and Regenerator, Slowbro has kept countless of physical threats on bay such as Mega Aerodactyl, Jirachi, Lucario, and even Victini. When Slowbro went to OU, physical wallbreakers such as Victini went to BL shortly thereafter. Slowbro was also a notable member of the infamous "pink core" that was notoriously hard to wear down.

In what main roles was Slowbro used?

Slowbro was mostly used as a physical wall while carrying a status move such as Thunder Wave to cripple its opponents even more and aid its offensive teammates. Slowbro can also run a Calm Mind set to aid its average Special Defense and boost its power. Thanks to Regenerator, Slowbro finds itself with many opportunities to set up. Finally, it can also run a lure offensive set thanks to its great Special Attack stat.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The combination of amazing physical bulk and Regenerator makes Slowbro really hard to wear down while its base 100 Special Attack means that it's not passive unlike other defensive walls. Water/Psychic is an amazing defensive typing in UU, as offensive Fire- and Water-types were dominant in XY UU. Its access to Scald and Thunder Wave makes it even infuriating to face. Slowbro was usually paired with other bulky Pokemon such as Mew and Florges, making these cores hard to break down. Slowbro was also one of the defensive Pokemon that can keep momentum going, making it a good pivot for offensive teams as well.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Powerful special wallbreakers were the best answer for Slowbro at the time. Grass types were fantastic answers to Slowbro, as they have a complete type advantage and access to Natural Cure most of the time. Great examples of these include Shaymin, Roserade, and Celebi. Electric types, though quite rare at the time, pose an offensive threat as well. Mega Blastoise and Hydreigon both carry Dark Pulse, resist its Scald, and have very high Special Attack to hit Slowbro's lower defensive stat. Guts Heracross enjoy's switching in to Slowbro's Scald while having the Megahorn to break it down. However, it has to watch out for Psyshock. Other physical attackers are have to run coverage moves to hit Slowbro for decent damage such as Mega Aerodactyl running Crunch.

Sacri' · Oct 6, 2016

What effect did Alakazam have on the metagame?

During late XY UU Mega Alakazam was used a lot simply because it was able to do different things (Revenge Killing, Cleaning, Wallbreaking) extremely well. It could fit well in most balanced/offensive teams which always appreciated it's fantastic speed and power. It got retested a few times before getting eventually banned early in ORAS. It basically sat at the top of the viability rankings until it left the tier, Mega Alakazam was a huge pain to deal with for most teams, it was one of the reasons that made choice scarf users so common at that time. Regular Alakazam had a pretty similar role to the mega form during XY even though it was pretty much always used as a revenge killer with the focus sash mostly because Mega Kazam outclassed it in every other roles. When it dropped back to UU during ORAS the metagame was much less prepared to deal with Alakazam, eventually leading it to get banned as well.

In what main roles was Alakazam used?

Mega Alakazam was everything a balanced/offensive team could dream for during XY, thanks to the combination of it's ridiculous power and speed it was able to virtually threaten every single team, it had a fantastic movepool which allowed it to run several variants of the offensive set with moves like Encore, Calm Mind or even substitue. It's offensive coverage was also extremely good, able to threaten the whole tier with only 3 offensive moves. It didnt have much defensive utility which wasnt even that impactful considering how strong and fast it was. It was also a fantastic wallbreaker, calm mind sets especially were incredibly hard to deal with for every defensive teams. Regular Alakazam worked in a similar way during ORAS, it had very limited answers and it was very threatening for most teams.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

Having the best non scarfed speed tier while hitting ridiculously hard was nothing to mess around, it's movepool was everything it needed to make it a nightmare for the whole tier. Regular Alakazam in ORAS was again relatively similar even though it was not as fast it was able to run two items that worked really well on it and it restricted teambuilding just as much.

How do/did you deal with this Pokemon in UU?

Mega Alakazam was really hard to switch into which is why choice scarf users such as Jirachi, Hydreigon or Mienshao were used to threaten it while also gaining momentum with U-Turn. Bulky variants of Jirachi could do relatively well considering it at least forced Alakazam to go for shadow ball which doesnt do too much in the first place. Bronzong worked the same way as Jirachi to check Alakazam. Blissey could deal with some variants of Mega Alakazam as well. Regular Alakazam during ORAS forced a massive rise of Pursuit-Mega Aerodactyl, Bronzong did see a bit more usage as well.

Pearl · Oct 6, 2016

Reserving Swampert

Top 10 Titans of the 6th Gen UU Metagame

STANDING ON BUSINESS

does this still work

STANDING ON BUSINESS

I closed my eyes and I slipped away...

Time not so well spent

Frust kommt auf, denn der Bus kommt nicht

I closed my eyes and I slipped away...

Banned deucer.

STANDING ON BUSINESS

this is the peace that you can not buy

FISHIOUS REND MEGA SHARPEDO

I closed my eyes and I slipped away...

does this still work

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:dog:

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this is the peace that you can not buy