NickCrash

Ok I found the quick-April changes, but will wait a while till I replace them with the previous ones. I knew of the March update but couldn't find it for some reason, even though pokes had already obviously dropped. Conk will see a higher usage in UU now, given that it's already a good bulky pokemon that can use multiple sets. It can hit much harder than Breloom, but people only use the Guts set, and that coupled with AV. Now it may probably see more usage, given how stally the tier is. Discussing the matter of Sylveon's fall. It's not about balancing the other tiers when a pokemon drops, but this ultimately means that Florges will end up in BL2 as it will overcentralize the game in RU, meaning that every second team would be using M-Steelix (which is already at 27.7%). I personally believe Florges won't fall to RU, as it has a similar role to Sylveon without being outclassed by a big margin. It's funny how a pokemon that's the 3rd most used in UU has serious chances to drop in 2 or 3 updates from now. Quick notes on April: -Clefable fell in usage -Mew, Celebi and Klefki almost managed to drop -Amoonguss almost made it -M-Altaria and M-Alakazam may find themselves in BL -Honchkrow may not be UU next season --Somebody used Emboar in OU

As you can see from the data Amoonguss almost made it to OU this time. I definitely needed more usage, but having borderline failed shows its potential. Most probably, come mid-June and another evaluation, the fungus pokemon enters the realm of OU and stays there as more rookie trainers will try to use it. So there is no reason to ban it to UU or a BL tier, as it seems to be rising on it's own. On the completely opposite train seems to be Sylveon, the only eeveelution that still is OU. With Sylveon's role as a cleric or a choice specs pixilate fairy nuke, it fits in fewer teams than before, with Clefable taking the leading Fairy role. I think it's odd that so few people use Sylveon, since it blocks Special Attackers much better than other fairies. Conkeldurr has a way to go but there are not enough fighting type pokemon in OU as it stands right now, and it's definitely more bulky than Breloom and Keldeo. It can utilize three marvelous abilities in Guts, Sheer Force and Iron Fist, but people still rarely use it. Chances are it drops and rises again the immediately next turn.

Gliscor does so much for this team... I feel guilty for not having used it before. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-365049412

This is why you don't use Mono-Dragon, no matter how powerful it is, in standard OU. It's also an opportunity to showcase my new team. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-365014540

February 2016

Since this forum is under the 'Competitive Discussion' umbrella, we ought to have a thread in which competitive battlers discuss the current state of the metagame and conduct healthy discussion (no matter how heated) about certain pokemon's skills and their possible future (or past) tier shifts. Since we didn't already have a thread about this, I suppose this is a good start. I will post below the Usage Data of various pokemon in OU, UU, RU, NU and even PU so we can discuss, speculate, debate and point out certain characteristics that prove why or how a pokemon ended up where it currently is. Note that these data are up to change (usually every 3-4 months) so when they are no longer up-to-date me or a mod should archive them in the placeholder below and replace them with what's currently being played. As of MAY 2016 I believe that these will provide those who wish to experiment or try a new tier with an idea of what's being used a lot and what isn't. This is valuable information that's not reflected when pokemon are sorted alphabetically in their corresponding tiers, and some of you may be already filling your brains with ideas of what to use next. ~ ~ ~ EDIT: This link has all the information you might want to get started in OU or improve your teams. As of August 2016, these are usage stats, items, moves, potential teammates, checks and counters for each pokemon in the OU tier. Use this to your own advantage. http://www.smogon.com/stats/2016-07/moveset/ou-1695.txt

Pslamb is the obvious choice, but I would go with leveling up knowing a certain move, similar to Sylveon, minus the friendship. or you somehow feed is pslamb meat As for the abilities, I believe Infiltrator is a given. Fur Coat fits too but I don't think the evolution has it. Cute Charm is also pretty obvious. It's definitely Dark type, since Mary couldn't handle it. I would also point towards Electric for the following reasons: i) Colours ii) Nauphrantom is part Water and I can't see this one being Grass iii) Se7en team promised type combinations never seen in canon pokemon games.

Alright, my ranking may be a tad different from the others, but I'm taking all final-stage pokemon into consideration, because the current state of OU and UU even make certain choices biased. Since those lists are threat-lists than actual viability rankings, I do believe discussion about raises and drops should not be the focal point of our discussion. I like to see it as pointing out the problems GameFreak may need to address in the future to balance the types more. 1. Dragon 2. Steel 3. Water 4. Dark 5. Fire 6. Fairy 7. Ground 8. Fighting 9. Flying 10. Ghost 11. Psychic 12. Poison 13. Bug 14. Normal 15. Electric 16. Grass 17. Rock 18. Ice This list is the most objective hierarchy I could make of the 18 types. It took a long time to write and is an in-depth analysis of each one of them.

Chase you misunderstood. I love Chestnaut and Breloom! I'm actually trying to make them work in OU to the best of my capabilities. I just disagree with the idea of another Grass/Fighting starter, especially since Gen6 already gave us one. While Grass/Flying is more represented, all of the delegates are useless in combat, and the one that isn't, belongs to the group of legendaries, a modified one even. Who in their right mind would ever consider using Jumpluff or Tropius The hype for an Ox starter does not reside only on the Zodiac pattern, but also includes the possibility of Tiger being used elsewhere. A perfect example would be an almost extinct Snow Leopard that resembles a tiger, or a Legendary for the SUN version. In my opinion, it's much more logical than a ... sun shark. Bug types don't really make good starters as most pokemon games are biased against them. Remember how in the first towns you go to the people regard Bug Catchers as a lower type of trainers? Further supporting this viewpoint is the target demographic of these games, albeit altered to suit older audiences. Even if Bug/Water seems an excellent typing and GF made a huge mistake removing Water from Masquerrain, they could re-introduce it in Gen7, even if the only logical form now is... a Mosquito. Water/Fighting appears to be the best route to follow at this point. Yes, it will sink Poliwrath further into the Abyss (or become creative and use a Belly Drum set in rain, after a Memento from Dugtrio), but it is the only starter type that never received the Fighting subtype, although chances were presented. I could even settle for a Water/Psychic as we haven't seen those since.... (has it been that long?) GEN1

Grass/Flying is a nice idea if made purely offensive. I'm not sure I want another Water/Steel as a starter.

When your opponent has never played any tier lower than OU and has no idea how to deal with those pokemon... http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-363980150

It's a nice creation and Kricketune definitely needs an evolution. I would not settle for a Mega for this one as I believe it's completely pointless. The stat boosts look fine and now it sits at a comfortable 509 BST. If I were more sadistic, I would cut 10 from a stat and have it be at 499, just a single point before reaching this ((important)) milestone. I suppose it will be used in RU or even UU as the bug/flying typing hinders more than it helps.

Combee's alternative Evolution Male Combee --> Nectrone Type: Bug / Fighting Ability: Super Luck /// Justified HP: 70 Atk: 102 Def: 80 SpA: 40 SpD: 80 Spe: 102 BST: 474 Most people were annoyed when their male Combee never became anything, no matter what they tried on them. As of now, make Combee are no longer useless, because a drone has entered the beehive. Sporting a better typing than Vespiquen, and having the same stats switched around to suit a physical attacker better, Nectrone (nectar + drone) is a pokemon that has the right tools to use and make it to a medium-high tier. 102 base Atk is not impressive, but 102 base speed is. In my opinion, a male counterpart for Vespiquen is long due, and I believe my stat distribution is the most optimal of a future fighting bee creation. Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee

1) How does that help Shuckle? It's not like you're going to attack it head-on 2) That's nowhere near fair! 400 base Atk after 5 turns? On a beheemoth that can sub / t-wave those turns? Let me quote Jericho here...

I know it's a "strong title" but the company left the simple concepts of colours, gems and letters for celestial objects and it's steadily running out of "bigger" myths to exploit. The only thing growing strong is the metagame, and even there, the options are limited as of now, because of the mega evolution mechanic. My only hope is that S&M showers us with >40 megas to use.

Upon Request: Delibird --> Santavian Type: Ice / Flying Ability: Vital Spirit , Hustle /// Competitive HP: 65 Atk: 95 Def: 65 SpA: 90 SpD: 60 Spe: 101 BST: 486 Ok I took little Delibird and gave it a nice evolution that can work well in the lower tiers, I suppose. Delibird has a limited movepool but it can go both physical and special if it likes... well now at least that it can use its moves. I gave it good stats to use and in my eyes it now resembles a pokemon that could fake as a canon one. It does not excel in any particular style but its 101 Speed helps make use of its support movepool if one decides to go that direction. Abilities are nicer than it deserves, stats are more than it would ever imagine, and the name is a little gem. Yep. Use it in RU or even UU. (more like NU but it's something... right?)

They could go for one of the following: Pokemon Earth Pokemon Black Hole Pokemon Eclipse (although I think this will be the main theme of these 2 games - one team in favor and one against - ) Pokemon Universe

Mega Drapion Type: Poison / Dark Ability: Tough Claws HP: 70 Atk: 90 --> 120 (+30) Def: 110 --> 135 (+25) SpA: 60 --> 70 (+10) SpD: 75 --> 90 (+15) Spe: 95 --> 115 (+20) Welcome to yet another episode of "Pimp My Pokemon". This time we got our beloved Drapion and gave it everything our budget could afford. Drapion was a bulky physical attacker whom you could call fast... a generation ago. However, the standards have risen now and Drapion needed those upgrades. So, we gave a good total +30 boost to defenses and another +20 to Speed. Now Drapion can outsped most threats of the meta, while still being checked by several pokemon. Now we had some money left so we awarded 30 points to Gryffindor the Attack stat, which when coupled with Tough Claws is quite strong. Since we had a leftovers 10 points and didn't want to make Drapion broken, we gave those to SpA. Remember fellow trainers that Drapion gets access to SD and several strong moves in Knock Off, EQ, Poison Jab, X-Scizor, various fangs and RKO outta nowhere. Since Drapion is in general a good mon, you can always bluff the mega set and use the normal one with LO, Expert belt or even Band to pursuit trap several traps for your team.

As long as it's not another Grass/Fighting I'll be happy to own it. What secondary types do you believe (or want) the starters to have?

I'm actually hyped for a Fire-type Ox or Ram. They also follow the Zodiacs, so it's a nice surprize of a mon. As for Water, I'm not a fan of a dolphin being a starter. On the contrary, I would enjoy a Newt or a Rhino. Grass is trickier but something that resembles a Koala would be nice.

I thought we all had clear thoughts of the ability and just had to finish the typing debate, as this was the centerpiece of this pokemon. Remember that every new type combination is exciting news for pokefans. As Bazaro already said, we do not need any more Normal pokemon. Ep.1 was already packed with them. If possible, I'd like to see the sprites for the last announcements.

When I read that the Water starter may be a seal...