Now that Most Wanted has ended, I wanted to go over a few things from the
usage stats, with a bit more on week 5 since that's post Zacian-C but just in general, as well as some thoughts on the meta and some mons.
| 17 | Buzzwole | 4 | 5.00% | 75.00% |
The goat, high win percentage because it's an underrated wall to a lot of the most dangerous threats currently, and can just take almost any physical hit needed. It beats Zygarde barring dd dtail/toxic and even then can wear it down and break subs, as well as being one of the best Groudon checks for the dangerous dual dance sets. Beats sp.def Yveltal for free also, since knock does 0 damage and it can bulk up / ice punch, and while U-turn is annoying it's still a solid pivot. Also beats Marshadow
| 20 | Giratina-Origin | 3 | 3.75% | 100.00% |
Interesting to see here as I hadn't looked at where it stood before, but I doubt it will even be any worse with the Zacian-C ban because it can't beat either of them as the standard sets ran Play Rough. It has a good utility movepool, great bulk, and is also a check to Groudon but it feels like to not much else aside from that. Maybe a fringe Zygarde check also depending on the set, but generally just a solid tank for some big threats, interesting to see, I liked it myself when I used it.
| 20 | Galvantula | 3 | 3.75% | 100.00% |
| 20 | Shuckle | 3 | 3.75% | 33.33% |
| 30 | Slurpuff | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |
Grouping the web setters together, and it's interesting to see Galvantula come out on top between them. I always thought it was really good, but the one time I used webs I opted for slurpuff, but galv seems to be taking over as arguably the best. Accurate thunder and twave while setting webs goes a long way, and I think it might be the setter of choice going forward if HO's want to just get faster. Shuckle compresses rocks into one mon, but its speed and susceptibility to a lot of things has probably led to that usage equaling Galvantula but the lesser win rate.
| 1 | Yveltal | 71 | 88.75% | 47.89% |
| 2 | Necrozma-Dusk-Mane | 70 | 87.50% | 48.57% |
The two at the top of the meta, keeping the most powerful offensive threats in check. Yveltal with just one more use all tour, and what's interesting is that the only week Necrozma had more uses was week 5, the one Zacian-C was banned for, where it had only tied with it at best previously. It was generally assumed that dusk would stick around post Zacian-C just for the utility but ideally it wasn't as needed, but this sample size, while small, might be showing that it's just as needed if not more than ever.
| 20 | Tangrowth | 3 | 3.75% | 66.67% |
2 in one game right before Zacian-C was banned, but it still won on at least 1 team whenever it came. I think it'll start picking up a ton, it's a really good way to pivot into banded Zacian without directly fearing any more like Ho-oh would as well as getting helmet chip. Checks a ton of scary mons outside of that as well, mostly dual dance Groudon and Zygarde although toxic likely wins long term, as well as Marshadow which just barely doesn't 2HKO Tangrowth.
| 12 | Lunala | 8 | 10.00% | 25.00% |
Surprising and quite disappointing, I think it's still a very good wall but it feels like it's slowly getting outclassed. It loses to toxic Zygarde as well as Marshadow but beats other Zygarde as well as Groudon. Pokemon like Buzzwole and Tangrowth are similar while also beating Marshadow, with one big thing Lunala has going for it is that it can't be trapped by Gothitelle. Overall though, I thinkn it may slowly just start to fall off as time goes on, and banded Zacian hits really hard no matter the move so I doubt it can be useful there, if you need a pivot into cc after something like a regen mon then run Calyrex-Shadow.
| 6 | Zacian | 4 | 28.57% | 50.00% |
Last usage specific rant, but these are the stats for the last week where Zacian-C was banned. Regular Zacian is extremely noticeably less used, because it's less splashable and finds it harder to come in on a lot of attacks due to the lack of steel typing and vulnerability to knock off. Decent win rate but I think more was expected of Zacian, it feels much easier in game and allows for more pivot usage which varies things up a bit in play and very slightly in the builder because your pivots aren't just dying to assurance wild charge or play rough anymore since band can't switch moves and the others are weaker to pivoting chip or just dusk mane in general.
Now, past random mons that I thought were cool and had notable stats, a final one with notable stats but also many problems past those.
(+maybe
)
| 15 | Gothitelle | 5 | 6.25% | 20.00% |
These stats reflect quite badly on Gothitelle, where the only win was from my own week 1 game when Zacian-C was still legal, but in general Gothitelle is in my opinion the most problematic mon currently and maybe that the tier has ever had barring Dynamax. Trapping warps the game to unhealthy lengths when the trapper is good in the meta, and Gothitelle is amazing in the meta. People have started running dd/sd Necrozma-DM on balance, Dragon Tail etern which is generally quite bad overall, and mons that stretch their pp amount extremely hard with things like Bulldoze Tangrowth which was used in MW. If a team wants to use most realistic defensive cores, at least some of it either has to be unoptimal defensively or it loses to Gothitelle. Carrying shed shell is great until it gets knocked off which is very common at least for Eternatus, and Dusk Mane isn't immune to staying in on things like Yveltal, Ferro, other Dusk Mane, etc. The options become either run suboptimal sets and sometimes beat Gothitelle
(defensive dd dusk mane still losing to Gothitelle) or just lose to Gothitelle unless you get insanely lucky crit fishing. And if there is no goth? Well you just have a suboptimal which does not much,
a position I found myself in with SD defensive dusk mane where I needed another rocker as well as couldn't fit twave just because I didn't want to lose to Gothitelle, and SD Necrozma ended up never doing anything because teams were naturally alright against it. Dtail etern with tspikes support has its uses, but trick Gothitelle sets are also extremely bad for it if it wants to stay around a long time for things like Kygore, because before this all I was describing the impacts of was the defensive pp stalling set, while trick is still another extremely good set that can put a mon out of the game quite early if played around it even semi decently, maybe even with Goth just tricking it then beating it later.
Gothitelle puts an unhealthy amount of restriction and fear in building, because sometimes you just have to accept the loss to getting the ability to switch taken away or make the team objectively worse, which again still doesn't always make the defensive mon come out on top. Another example is something like fast taunt Gothitelle with good predictions beating WW Ho-oh, because it can't actually phaze if you taunt correctly and only has 8 sacred fire's. Twave BB Sacred Roost/Defog is also trapped, just not on the switch in unless it's to a status move. I added a mention on Gothorita because I feel like it's necessary when discussing the goths. It has similar bulk with Eviolite, so theoretically it can do very similar things just without the trick set being as good. I think goth is far and away the biggest threat in the meta, I much prefer Calyrex-S for example which I still think is a fine part of the meta, but Gothitelle is the main thing I think is a threat currently.
