RU Suspect Coverage: Stages 1-3
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Introduction
Since RU's inception as a tier for XY, it has been a pretty balanced and enjoyable tier to play. RU started with a pretty cool metagame, but had a few major offenders in terms of brokenness: Azelf, Kyurem, and Sableye. Azelf was an amazing and versatile offensive threat, boasting incredible Speed and great mixed attacking stats, which were complemented by an expansive movepool, making it almost impossible to counter and ridiculously dominant offensively. Kyurem was as powerful as its 660 BST suggested, which aided its ability to easily carry out several roles in the metagame. Offensive sets with Life Orb / Choice Specs had very few counters and most common Pokémon in the metagame were straight up OHKOed by it. Its defensive SubRoost set took advantage of its Pressure ability and great bulk to stall out even Pokémon that were supposed to counter its offensive sets, such as Bronzong. Sableye was possibly the most broken of the three, as it was able to fully disrupt almost the entire metagame with a combination of Prankster Will-O-Wisp, Recover, and Knock Off, threatening offensive and defensive teams alike, and making physical attackers a liability. These three Pokémon were the first quickbans of the newly established metagame. Around this time, four other top threats in the tier rose to UU, those Pokémon being Raikou, Shaymin, Toxicroak, and Milotic; two more Pokémon in Smeargle and Medicham rose directly to OU. However, RU gained Jolteon, which was convenient as Manectric gained a Mega Evolution and landed itself a spot in OU, leaving a void it previously filled in BW RU. Slightly later on, RU quickbanned Tornadus, as it was amazingly strong, both physically and specially, with powerful utility in Prankster Rain Dance fostering a dangerous, offensive playstyle. Around five months later, RU is now in Stage 3 with a total of three suspect rounds, four Pokémon suspect tested, and all with a majority ban vote. This article explains the reasoning for the large pro-ban sides of the suspects in question.
Stage 1:
The first suspect tested Pokémon of RU was Froslass. Now at first glance, one might wonder why Froslass was banned: it doesn't really boast any outstanding stats beyond its Speed, and its defensive typing really isn't much to write home about. However, Froslass wasn't banned for its offensive or defensive capabilities, but rather its incredible support abilities. Froslass has access to the move Spikes, which has always been a relatively powerful entry hazard for its ability to take out a whopping 25% of a grounded Pokémon's HP upon entry, assuming three layers are up. However, Froslass had many qualities that made it vastly superior to other Spikes users, such as Accelgor and Omastar, and also pushed Spikes-stacking offense over the top. Its first quality is its Ghost typing, which allowed Froslass to spinblock its own entry hazards, thus denying Rapid Spin while it was in play. Froslass also had other incredible utility moves, such as Taunt and Destiny Bond, the former preventing setup and also denying Defog from most users; Taunt was especially potent since Froslass was faster than all viable Defog users in the tier. Froslass's STAB Ice Beam also defeated Gligar, another common Defog user. Destiny Bond allowed Froslass to achieve a free kill after it had finished its job, which meant that it could remove an important Pokémon from an opponent's team when played correctly. Cursed Body was also a somewhat annoying ability, especially for Choice users, and could shut down a move if it activated, often forcing the afflicted Pokémon to switch, and the Spikes set up by Froslass would often heavily damage the switch-in. This is also in addition to the fact that Rapid Spin could be blocked by Doublade, who easily handles the two common spinners in the tier, Hitmonlee and Kabutops. Defog, on the other hand, could be taken advantage of by Braviary thanks to Defiant, and a +2 Braviary could easily terrorize teams; even without a boost, the Spikes support made it quite a terror. Spikes could easily be utilized by Pokémon such as Speed Boost Sharpedo, who has very few offensive checks in the tier, while Spikes allows it to nab KOes much more easily. Froslass made Spikes Offense relatively easy to use as well as easy to win with. As a Pokémon who was banned from UU in the past two generations, Froslass's capabilities ultimately proved too much for RU and resulted in its ban.
Stage 2:
Shuckle has typically never been seen as a Pokémon overpowered in any manner since its introduction in GSC. While it has very high base 230 Defense and Special Defense stats, its very low HP offsets that (which prevented Shuckle from being a sturdy wall in previous generations), and it has very little offensive power or Speed. So what made Shuckle a suspect-worthy threat in XY RU? Certainly not its defenses, which appears to be a common misconception. No, Shuckle was gifted with a brand new move in XY, a move with very low distribution called Sticky Web, which makes all grounded Pokémon without Clear Body have their Speed lowered by one stage. Before we even think about how this new entry hazard affects the tier, we must first understand why Shuckle was considered as a suspect, and not other Sticky Web users such as Kricketune and Leavanny. Well, Shuckle's insane bulk and Sturdy ability meant it could never be KOed immediately by most attacks, and because it did not require a Focus Sash, it could hold the item Mental Herb to prevent potential Taunt users from stopping Sticky Web from being set. It also could not be used as setup bait as it had access to Encore to lock Pokémon into the setup move they'd try to use. In short, Shuckle was the most reliable Sticky Web setter in the tier. However, this wouldn't have meant anything if Sticky Web didn't have such an amazingly powerful effect on the metagame, but unfortunately, it did. RU has a vast amount of slow, yet amazingly powerful wallbreakers, such as Hitmonlee, Exploud, Magneton, Zangoose, and Clawitzer, which could all threaten bulkier Pokémon very well. Imagine what would happen if they were fast enough to outspeed and KO the frailer offensive Pokémon in the tier! As expected, Sticky Web teams were very easy to use, yet hard to defend against, giving the Sticky Web user a massive immediate advantage that not even other entry hazards such as Stealth Rock could match. However, it's obvious that Sticky Web is an entry hazard, so you may be wondering why it couldn't just be removed via standard hazard removal methods, ie: Defog and Rapid Spin. Well, it wasn't quite as simple as that. RU had (and still has) very few hazard removers, with offensive Rapid Spin users being very frail and unable to find an opportunity to use the move against effectively "faster" offensive powerhouses. Almost every Rapid Spin user could also not break through Doublade, a Pokémon that sits at #1 in weighted usage stats currently, leaving only defensive Defog users such as Gligar and Golbat as consistent Pokémon that can remove Sticky Web. Even the two of them give a free switch into Clawitzer or Magneton respectively as they use Defog. Another thing to note is that with Shuckle's access to Encore, Infestation, and Knock Off, it could actually punish Rapid Spin or Defog by Encoring it, or trapping a Pokémon with the move, so that a teammate could get a free switch-in / KO the trapped Pokémon. Overall, the support that Shuckle provided to a team and the ease in ability of providing that support made it too much for the tier.
Stage 3:
Zoroark has always been a relatively powerful Pokémon in RU, but only recently had people brought up the idea of suspect testing it. Although Zoroark was a decent offensive threat, with its good offensive stats and Speed combined with a good offensive movepool, what really made it such a powerful Pokémon was its ability, Illusion, which disguises Zoroark as the last Pokémon in the party. Thanks to this, Zoroark could easily function as one of the best lures in the tier, being able to disguise itself as a Pokémon such as Virizion or Slurpuff, attract their common counters, such as Doublade, and proceed to destroy them. This was still a powerful ability, despite the presence of Team Preview and entry hazards. Knock Off was also a huge factor to Zoroark's dominance in the tier, as even Pokémon that could switch into Zoroark reliably, such as Aromatisse and Togetic, would find themselves deprived of Leftovers or Eviolite, meaning they were now unable to do their jobs as effectively for the remainder of the match. It also had access to priority in Sucker Punch, which was one of the stronger priority moves in the tier. Zoroark's ability as a lure caused many guessing games: and often in the favor of the one using Zoroark. If the opponent lost their main counter to something such as Virizion thanks to Zoroark, then they were often in for a rough ride by such Pokémon as they could now proceed to easily wipe out the opponent's team. Even after its job as a lure was completed, Zoroark was still threatening as an offensive Pokémon, as it has a good offensive movepool with great coverage to threaten the opposing team. It was also a versatile offensive Pokémon, being able to function as a mixed attacker, a Swords Dance or Nasty Plot sweeper, or an immediate attacker with Choice Specs. However, it was Zoroark's ability to lure Pokémon such as Slowking and Doublade in tandem with Pokémon such as Emboar or Virizion that made it suspect worthy, and its mind games proved too much for RU to handle, which resulted in its banishment from the tier.
Yanmega was thought by many to be a very likely candidate for a suspect test in XY RU, and with Stage 3, many players' wishes were granted. Yanmega was actually banned very early in BW RU, so the main RU players definitely knew what they were in for when it was allowed at the beginning of XY. However, it wasn't long before Yanmega was up on the chopping block again, all for the same reasons as before. In XY, it was an amazingly powerful offensive threat with two equally devastating sets which both threaten different playstyles while not being useless against any of them, either. The Choice Specs Tinted Lens set hit like an absolute truck, with all the Pokémon that could hope to switch in having their resistances to its moves nullified by Tinted Lens, so the only Pokémon that could stand up to it were ones with either massive Special Defense stats, or a 4x resistance to Bug Buzz. This was pretty much limited to Registeel, SpD Aromatisse (which could only check it with absolutely no hazards on the field), SpD Moltres, and Togetic, making stall teams easy prey for this insect. Its other flavor, the Life Orb Speed Boost set, was incredibly effective against frail offensive teams that rely on their Speed to check Pokémon. With Yanmega's consistent Speed Boosting, it was absolutely impossible to revenge kill after a few turns without a priority revenge killer such as Fletchinder. Most common priority isn't enough for Yanmega, with Hitmonlee's Mach Punch being 4x resisted and doing almost nothing to the bug, which wasn't as hopelessly frail as Sharpedo, another common Speed Boost cleaner. The Speed Boost set also had a distinct lack of 4MSS, unlike so many other cleaner Pokémon, so it was free to run one of either Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, Hidden Power Fire, or Hidden Power Ground, which hit otherwise troublesome Pokémon like Rhyperior, Doublade, Escavalier (and Ferroseed), and Magneton. Yanmega also had the most perfect support partners, with Spikes leads such as Accelgor and Omastar heavily aiding its cleaning sets, and the most important partner of all, Dugtrio, which can trap and KO Registeel, paving the way for Yanmega to fire off a powerful Choice Specs-boosted attack / sweep with its Speed Boost set. Yanmega's offensive ability was way too much for the RU tier to handle.
Conclusion
After these three rounds of suspect testing, RU has become a pretty stable tier. The four remaining S-Rank Pokémon are Rhyperior, Delphox, Meloetta, and Doublade. Rhyperior is the best offensive Stealth Rock setter in the tier and has insane attacking stats and bulk. Delphox is a threatening special attacker with a Life Orb Calm Mind set that heavily threatens stall teams. Meloetta is a powerful attacker with Choice Specs, has various special attacking sets such as Substitute + Calm Mind and Assault Vest (which can pivot into various powerful special attackers in the tier), and has its Psychic typing mitigated by its primary Normal- typing, which renders it immune to the very relevant Doublade's Ghost-type STAB moves. Speaking of Doublade, it is the fourth S Rank Pokémon and a check to a large majority of the tier based on its typing alone, but Eviolite-boosted 59 / 150 physical bulk is a definite plus. Being able to check powerful sweepers such as SD Virizion, SD Cobalion, and BU Braviary almost effortlessly makes Doublade a valuable asset, but it can also spinblock nearly every Rapid Spin user in the tier, while having a very noticeable offensive presence. Realistically, the only one of these Pokémon even close to a suspect test is Meloetta, which is suddenly much better with Zoroark and Yanmega gone, being much better than it even was before (where it was still in S-Rank). Make sure to follow the Rarelyused forum, come visit the rarelyused room on Pokémon Showdown!, or come to #rarelyused on SynIRC to get involved in the tier, and get a chance to affect the tiering results yourself!
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