Analysis: Pokémon Black & White Metagame~

[Sabeta]

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Hello, I am posting this topic for two reasons. The first, is to alert you that Pokémon Online now supports Black & White Pokémon, as well as all the new moves, items, and abilities we can't wait to try. I myself have been playing with this since the Alpha server, and the project is currently in Beta. A quick point, B/W Wifi now allow you to see each others Pokémon before the battle, such as in the style of Pokémon Stadium 1/2/PBR. So, PO also includes this feature, allowing you to rearrange your party after seeing your opponents. Unfortunately this takes quite a bit of surprise out of the battles (Ie; phazing to scout = no longer necessary) but it does make battles more interesting, to say the least.

So, with all that being said, feel free to discuss the Metagame here. Please, I implore you to have actual knowledge of the metagame here. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT! complain about any tactics, Pokemon, or the brokenness of Pikachu, without firsthand experience in that field, meaning you have encountered, or used the aforementioned Pokémon. with that, I will begin.

My opinion, after roughly a week of play-testing, is that this is the single most Balanced Metagame I have ever seen. At face value, nearly everything looks unbelievably broken, to the point where this metagame is simply throw out your six, and rush them all at once in a Hyper Offensive style until your opponents are obliterated. This, as it turns out is completely untrue. I have scene, used, won, and been beaten by every play style, in equal amounts. The only play style I don't see, is Stall, but I have used it and achieved quite a good degree of success. (I'm not good with stall though). I can only assume this lack of interest to that particular regard is that Stall is much harder to play. Instead of destroying Stall like everyone originally assumed, they made it balanced out with the other play styles. It used to be where Stall was the easiest play style to pick up for most, and that it was often the best way to play. Now; however, it takes genuine skill to play Stall, but when played properly, is just as great as any others. Stall this gen requires better prediction, and more dependency on Rapid Spin, so keep that in mind to those who wish to build teams.

There are a few stars that are beginning to shine. Uru, the Giant moth is on nearly ever team, and despite losing half its health for showing up, it's a force to be reckoned with. Roopushin is a physical powerhouse, and a true monster. Shandeera is a lovely Pokemon, but nowhere near as game breaking as assumed originally, in fact, Shandeera was somewhat underwhelming.

With that in mind, there are very few Pokemon shy of genuine Ubers who break the metagame. Of those, are Doryuuzu. With Sandstorm up he's an incredible pain to deal with, perhaps impossible in some cases, I might just call him the first Uber. Why?

In Sandstorm, he doubles his speed, and when forcing something out, he doubles his attack (Swords Dance). It's not a pretty sight, needless to say. Long Story short, this is the single best metagame we've ever had, and I'm glad GameFreak delivered well this gen.

So, what are your opinions.

(I want to take now to remind everyone to actually test things before making any comments/claims, and that opinions are not facts, and as such, are undebatable, unless stating a differing opinion, but do not attempt to discredit the validity of anyone else's ideals. Ignorance is not an excuse.)

Edited November 5, 2010 by Gin

[wraith89]

Sorry for not looking at this board for a while. I've finally found this thread and decided to approve it for more open discussions regarding the B/W metagame.

Been playing a few games in BW mode for a while. Now I don't know enough about this metagame as I've only seen around half the Pokemon of BW, and the thing you stated "throw 6 Pokemon out in hyper offensive mode until the other guy is gone" is pretty much how I've been playing. I couldn't truly stall in this metagame and I had some scary encounters with dangerous Pokemon like Roobushin (I'm still annoyed at that guy) and all sorts of things that were quite unfamiliar. Since I was unfamiliar with this metagame, I opened up with Mamoswine as a lead, with Stealth Rocks/Protect/Ice Shard/Earthquake as usual. Mamoswine had some good traits, as he was immune to Thunder Wave and Protect can protect him against Fake Outs. Also, his Earthquake is amazing and Ice Shard picks off weakened leads. So Mamoswine was quite a sturdy lead in the past, but status inducers and random burns are quite annoying. Other than that, Mamoswine is serving me really well, but I may try other leads. I've tried Metagross as well, which turned out pretty okay too. I'm not too sure what would make greater leads however, but I plan on trying Swampert and her new tool Boiling Water, but the only times I've been using Swampert was not as lead but as a bulky water switch in. I run Boiling Water/Ice Beam/Earthquake/Roar, as Stealth Rocks usually goes on someone else. What I'm upset about is Damp coming in one generation too late. She would have made a great use of it in Gen IV with Metagross leads exploding in her face... but now Explosion even got nerfed and you cannot have Stealth Rocks and Damp in the same moveset! Trolled.

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One thing I have noticed is that I really did not have time to set up Stealth Rocks as often as I used to in Gen IV. I'm not sure what it is, but it's either KO or get KOd thing so it gets quite tense. Maybe in a bit the game will stable up and more stealth rock usage will be seen, but usually, I found very little time to waste that one turn to set rocks up. I'm not sure if that's happened to you, but it's been that case for many of my games.

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While I am still thoroughly annoyed at some of these new Pokemon seemingly outclassing the old and whatnot (ERUFUUN!!!), I have found a lot of use for some of the old Pokemon. One Pokemon is Tentacruel. Tentacruel is still as useful as it was as a spinner, TS absorber from those annoying Pendoras, TS set upper, and basically a great utility Pokemon. Now I had to EV it differently to adjust to this offensive metagame by pumping more EVs into its surprisingly fast base 100 speed and putting the rest into bulk, and it was still able to take hits. New tools like Boiling Water is a true boon to it, as it is a pseudo defense boost if that 30% burn chance works. And because ghosts tend to switch into Tentacruel, I gave it a new Ghost move Evil Eye, which doubles its base power if the opponent is status'd. It has helped me in many occasions and allowed me to beat those annoying Desukans or even Gengars after poisoning them with TS (note: not on Gengar but paralysis or even Boiling Water burn support helps). Unfortunately, I compromised Knock Off for Evil Eye. However, I don't think there's time to Knock Off in this metagame... stuff seems to do too much damage even still. Another utility Pokemon that improved is Forretress, as Sturdy allows it to survive a fatal special Fire move if it is at 100% health. A really good bonus in my opinion. Another Pokemon benefiting from Sturdy is Steelix. Leftovers cancels out SR, the guy is very physically defensive, and can epically wall physical attackers, making them cry, or phaze out those who see it as set up fodder. With Sturdy, Special Fire moves won't OHKO, but its STAB EQ will definitely take a bite out of that Houndoom. Speaking of EQ, what about the new move Knock Down? Yeah, Steelix is weak, but with this move, you don't have to care, as you're knocking down fliers to the ground, and the best part is, many are weak to Ground without that Flying/Levitate! Then smack them down with a STAB EQ and if you get the opportunity to, Curse up. Meh, I don't know... I feel like I'm the only person using Steelix, and he's proven to be such an awesome wall.

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As for the offensive... CLOYSTER is a monster. It is easily stopped but it's like a pseudo Belly-zard; set up a Shell Break and watch it tear through its opponents team. Now accuracy problems do bite me in the end when Hydro Pump or Rock Blast starts missing, but its STAB Icicle Spear along with Skill Link allows it to eat through Subs and destroy Yache Landorosu or something. Cloyster looks like those high risk high reward Pokemon, as it has the offensive stats and the speed (fastest of the Shell Breakers) to abuse it. I've had some fun with this type of Cloyster, though I prefer the spinning utility spiking type. But this thing is really fun and gives a completely different perspective of Cloyster than before. It is still physically defensive like crazy with 180 defense, the highest defense in RBY (even with - 1 Adamant CB 252 Attack Scizor's Bullet Punch manages 55-64% on it), but low HP and especially that low Special Defense (unsalvagable in the offensive Cloyster) is a huge Achilles's heel. Not to mention it is SR weak. But everything needs a weakness right? I equipped a Lum Berry because of those annoying Mischievous Heart status inflicters always trying to do something like WoW or TWave or Toxic or sleep.

New Pokemon I like... hmm. Okay, it's cheap, but Perversity Smuglord (Jaroda) is quite the beast. I feign Subseeding by substituting on the switch, and continue to pump up its Special Attack through Leaf Storms (though costly misses can and DO happen). It still has the bulk to subseed, great amount of speed, and can be an offensive monster if played right. Fun stuff happens as Shadow Ball raises its Special Defense instead of lowering it, Intimidate raises its attack, and all sorts of mess. It is epically walled by steels if you are running Hidden Power Ice, and walled by Dragons if you use Hidden Power Fire, and walled by Fires and Heatran either way, but Smuglord can do all sorts of other things (but don't run Perversity on those other sets), such as Snake Coil boosts, Glare, physical attacker, etc. I have yet to test Daikenki and Emboar (I hope to get the former to work, as I love waters).

Burungel is another Pokemon I love. The Water/Ghost Pokemon is an answer to many of the old stuff that were in Gen IV, such as Infernape. Boiling Water/WoW is a charm on this thing, and with its incredible bulk and access to Recover, I've found Burungel to be a very important asset to any team who needs a wall. It can even survive Shandera's Shadow Ball (non Spec'd) and OHKO with Boiling Water (the latter requires SR though). Speaking of Shandera, this is one thing Scizor and pals need to watch out for. I have a feeling Scizor won't be as dominant in this metagame... at all. With stuff like Roobushin around (why do I keep bringing this guy up?) who needs Scizor? Yeah, I hate Roobushin... though I've always managed to beat it. Shandera is a monster though, especially with Shadow Tag. There are times I've felt it was underwhelming, and can turn out to be a Tyranitar bait in the end, but there were many times it has saved me in battles by revenging stuff that... just needed to be revenged. I don't believe it is broken, but I found it too useful, so I'm not too sure about this evil chandelier.

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The Leopard makes a great anti lead as Tbird has repeatedly proved to me. Fake Out + Mischievous Heart Taunts and Thunder Waves are quite helpful. Tbird is quite the mischievous man really as he ran another beast called Mischievous Heart Sableye, using annoying Will-o-Wisp/Sub/Torment/Night Shade set to subdue its foes. I've seen Gin run Mischievous Heart Erufuun, which may just turn out into the primary Subseeder. It doesn't really attack, but it is still annoying and has a troll base speed of 116. Though Mischievous Heart is not widespread (thankfully), we can expect many of these types of Pokemon to run rampant in this metagame, as priority support moves are too useful to surpass.

As for the Musketeer trio? They're very good, but I'm kind of afraid of Cobalon outclassing Lucario. It does not in terms of movepool, as Lucario's movepool is a lot more diverse and still much powerful, but Cobalon, the Athos of the Musketeer trio, has better speed, a lot more defense, and some pretty good moves like Volt Change (electric U-turn), Thunder Wave, Close Combat, Flash Cannon, and even Metal Burst. The musketeers overall seem to be limited to their own types of moves like many other legendaries. Virizion, the beautiful one (Grass typing), does not get Leech Seed, even with that bloated 129 SpDef, but has offensive movepool in form of X-Scissor, Focus Blast, Close Combat, Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Holy Sword, and not much else. It seems like a defensive monster stuck with an offensive movepool. I'm not sure how to play it now. Now, the one we all said would get owned by the other two due to its typing, Terrakion, actually turned out the best of the three in terms of stats and movepool. He ended up with the 129 attack, while his lowest stat would be that 72 SpA, which he won't even need. Swords Dance + Rock Polish are two amazing moves, and it gets Stone Edge and Close Combat to boot. It is the only one of the three to get Earthquake, which makes this guy even more versatile. His typing is also a blessing at times because sand will raise his SpDef too. I expect Terrakion to see a lot of use as opposed to the other two. All three also have access to Taunt, which is very helpful against annoying status inflicters.

Now what about the forgotten one, D'Artagnan, erm I mean Kerudio? He seems to be the opposite of Terrakion: his lowest is Attack, while his highest is SpA. He can Calm Mind to boost that insane SpA up and has one Trump Card the other three does not have: Sword of Mystery. Sword of Mystery is an anti Blissey move, as it calculates the user's SpA but deducts from the foe's Defense. With STAB, no Blissey will like this. Though Burungel walls Kerudio completely, at least there's a form of checks and balances here or else you'd have a total monster in your hands. Kerudio, though its Attack is pitiful, can take advantage of Justice Heart (its ability which allows it to gain + 1 attack if it got attacked by a dark move) and Swords Dance and run its physical movepool, which includes a STAB physical Aqua Jet. Kerudio looks very promising and will probably see a lot of use in many teams.

I talk too much about Boiling Water, but that move alone is helping water Pokemon become... more bulky physically. I've been using it a lot on defensive waters, but Surf/Hydro Pump is still better on things like Starmie or fast sweeper types. The lower damage output is kind of bad, but hey, some stuff do settle for base 80 STABs (like Shadow Ball, Crunch, Dark Pulse, etc...), although... these are usually done by things with higher natural attack/special attack than what bulky waters normally carry.

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I have not used "ubers" but I have played against many ubers... though, there was one time I used a CM Psycho Break Mewtwo... and completely decimated the other team. Good grief, he's tough! Nothing safely counters Mewtwo... even things that resist its moves. I like it > : )

I have other things in my mind, but they are not coming to my head yet. But is the game balanced? Not entirely sure. I did not find room to stall or anything and found using stuff that I like (even with massive support) is a lot harder to pull off than before. We'll have to see though, but old Pokemon aside from a select few are becoming rarer and rarer from the looks of it. Still a bit skeptical about the end result of this, but let's hope it turns out better.

I will continue analyzing more Pokemon as I see them and more tactics I've found. I have found many interesting Pokemon and new tactics from even our old favorites, but there's just too much to write at the moment...

EDIT: Just got destroyed by a Balloon yielding Swords Dance Breakable Armor Kabutops o_o

... this is just... weird.

Edited October 28, 2010 by wraith89

[Tbird]

Well...

I guess I'll post here .

I must say, through all of my scepticism and cynicism things haven't turned out too bad. I am thankful for the gifts the older stuff got given this generation. Namely, as Wraith touched upon, Mischievous Heart Sableye; Dia on the battle field - Naked Tom Embodied to Wraith. It really is a beast, I had been excited ever since the release of the Dream world abilities and, boy, has it delivered.

Currently I'm running (and dare I say I was the first to run) a move-set of Sub/Protect/Will o Wisp/Nightshade. Priority on all but night shade means that I can Burn stall many physical attackers; most of whom being of the fighting nature so switching in is all but a given. Similarly, I can switch in on a lot of specially inclined folk and do the same, it becomes harder because after the burn they can still break through my substitute but I can take a nice hefty chunk away before switching someone else in on a resisted move and getting rid of them . He's been an asset to all of my gen 5 teams thus far and seems to be the defensive king pin needed to get passed a lot of the new physical guys.

Porygon2 is another gifted pokemon this generation. in prior generations it was used to get rid of the likes of Salamence and Gyarados and this generation it got given a 30% defensive boost in form of Evo- Stone for all the more walling to help with these new uber powered pokes. Running a set of Trick Room/ Recover/ Boltbeam means I can PP stall A LOT of guys (Even physically enclined folks thanks to burn support from Sableye) whilst being an offensive threat at the same time. Roopushin laughs at poor P2, but that's where sableye steps in (so long as it's not a guts variant). She reminds me of a Jui-jitsu vet'... able to attack and hurt things even when in a bad spot .

A lot of guys that were good in Gen 4 are still good now. Flygon can still revenge and scout things as good as ever; Starmie is still a great spinner/ status absorber. So I'm happy. While stuff is definitely getting trolled on (Machamp, Scizor, Hitmonchan < Roopushin) there's new viability to be seen.

I've not tried a whole lot of things as of yet, but I am certainly very much aware that this trapping candle is going to be a pain in the ass, the weird legendary cloud guys; namely the ground flyer, aren't going to be easy to deal with. I do, however, fear that stuff like Scizor may fall into UU territory. Machamp will survive due to its awesome lead role. But I know for sure, UU won't be a pretty place to play in.

Stall isn't completely viable. I haven't used ut, but I didn't use it in gen 4 either. It seems that instead of their being stall teams there will be stalling pivots; pace setters, so to speak. For instance Jolorda can stall until the cows come home, Sableye too can do this (WoW/Toxic). And I guess I quite like that. The feel that instead of it just being your standard 6v6 battle royale, you do need to set the pace of the battle if you want to get somewhere. A lot of my teams are built with a long-haul in mind, and while in gen 4 it was possible to get a quick sweep out of a long-game team, in Gen V you have to implement and dictate the pace lest you get beat by someone elses pace. (I hope that makes some sort of sense.)

Briefly I touched on some of the broken-ness. But I won't go into detail there. There's too much stuff I haven't tried for me to comment on it plausibly and I've not tried in any intricate sense to counter said problem pokes.

As for balance; You can't tell at all. With this current Level 100 tier, and people using that as an excuse to use clearly over powered pokes, getting any sense of balance is quite far off. However, in battling guys with pokemon that will clearly be OU > it feels almost balanced, by no means stable as I still don't know who most of these new guys are just yet, but certainly almost balanced . I don't know, I miss Scizor already . I suppose if you forget about gen 4 and take generation 5 as if it were the only generation, or at least with an unbiased frame of mind, there is balance - a lot of new hard hitters, but more defensive capabilities thanks to new abilities/changes and new items.

Overall I am really quite happy. the pokemon still look dumb as hell, but I've been using my old favourites and testing out their new toys, and I think if you were scared of Gen V then doing that is the best way to get into the new generation.

Oh ... Ugly moth is ugly.

And God damn it I will make Butterfree sweep!

[Gin]

Things I've noticed so far:

Ditto seems broken, by far. If we start a temp ban list, I'd like Ditto on there. I'm really starting to appreciate Roopushin now, that Iron Fist Mach Punch hits like a truck. With so many new stuff, there are bound to be good offensive cores, and I've been using Tyranitar/Randorosu/Doryuuzu. I'll add more stuff later.

[wraith89]

Agreed with Gin. If one Pokemon [Ditto] completely stops people from setting up, it is definitely broken. Though it depends on who it transforms into, that is almost quite controllable. I made it my policy to never use Ditto (I only did it once for fun against Mewtwo EX... but he can forgive me because I let him set up ) and I'm leaning towards just not using Shandera. She's just too useful...

Doco... Tbird, I must borrow Naked Tom for a while... I don't want an SD Broken Armor Balloon Kabutops to sweep me again with 100% accurate Stone Edges... and THOR IS HERE must die...

By the way people, it has been confirmed that Mean Look + Baton Pass doesn't work. So much for Umbreon's prime strategy...

[Gin]

What's so bad about Thor is HERE?

[Sabeta]

So then, I've been playing mostly Sunny Day, and boy do I love it. Growth now give +1 Atk and Spa this gen, and when used in the sun, the effect is doubled, so it's a free +2 to both my offensive stats. This makes mixed sweeper Venusaur a real beast, and Victreebell got a major power up too, what with reliable Weather Ball and Leaf Storm.

My favorite Pokémon this gen is Ulgamoth. 50% weakness to Stealth Rocks? Laughable. After a single Butterfly Dance, I'm able to decimate most teams, after 2 I'm unstoppable. Even Ditto doesn't scare me, as I can continue to Butterfly Dance while it struggles to do much of anything. It completely walls Shandeera too, allowing for free set-up if they are foolish enough to stay in. Even at 50% this thing sweeps like a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Ftr, Sunny Day is now my preferred weather, but Sandstorm still holds dear to me.

I like most of the designs, and hate others.

Edited November 4, 2010 by Sabeta

[wraith89]

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Don't know if Uglymoth walls Shandera though. Well, maybe after a couple of boosts, yeah, but I've been beating many of them with Shandera's STAB Fire moves. Calm Mind Ninetales allows me to defeat those variants usually, as I wall them and whatnot and hit back with my own fire attack (by the way, I run Flash Fire). Not saying Uglymoth isn't a beast, it truly is. In fact, I've had a few games where I struggled to hit it, but it does have its counters (I suppose Gyarados is one example). If it weren't for SR, Uglymoth would truly be a force to be reckoned with.

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Now, we can clearly see weather is having a huge impact here. Rain is becoming an incredible beast of a weather. With perma rain brought by Politoed (who is certainly no slouch), rain teams have a much easier time sweeping through stuff with their STAB moves, physical and special. Kingdra is certainly getting much scarier than before as one wouldn't have to worry about the rain running out lest the other guy carries another weather starter. As for Politoed, we're always thinking it's just another boring water type (Politoed sans Drizzle). The only reason why people use Politoed is because of Drizzle. But pretend that it didn't even use that. So how would Politoed be used? The happy froggy has many things going for it, such as decent overall bulk (90/75/100), decent special attack, and average but still usable speed. I guess as a water, we should concentrate on its bulk. Now for its movepool... it has some workable and annoying things, such as Hypnosis, Bounce, Perish Song, Toxic, Swagger and Encore. You can try to pull a Perish Song to force switches, but mind you, it got extended to 4 turns in this generation, so I do not believe it is practical. Hypnosis would work, but that 60% accuracy more often than not really disappoints, but if you must, go ahead and do it. Toxic is certainly good against other leads, particularly Swamperts or other bulky waters. Swagger is just annoying but quite risky. And of course, Encore is an evil move which forces the opponent to use the same move over, forcing them to switch or allowing you to go to a suitable counter. Politoed definitely has a lot of things going for it in terms of support, as it isn't completely lacking. Now what about its offensive movepool? We have Boiling Water, Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Psychic. In the rain, Surf and Hydro Pump will leave a NICE dent on things that doesn't resist it. 90 SpA isn't unusable, it's quite respectable, and in the rain, it's 1.5x stronger and powered with STAB. Of course, it's the usual power vs accuracy argument. However, I've found more use on Boiling Water. Boiling Water is this generation's water Lava Plume, and it will pseudo raise Politoed's physical defense if you cause a burn on the other guy (lest its a Guts Hera... then prepare to run!). It's still a respectable choice as it also runs STAB and gets powered by rain. I think it's the better choice to run on Froggy here, but it's all up to your team's needs. Boiling Water also thaws you out of those trolly freeze hax. Be warned though, Burn can cause conflict with Toxic on the same set (say you wanted to intoxicate that Lanturn that switches in but you burn it instead)... yeah you get the idea, so Surf and Hydro Pump are still worthwhile choices. Ice Beam is for those Grass types that like to wall Politoed and other stuff like dragons and whatnot. It is a very good move and helps coverage wise. Focus Blast keeps missing but still, hitting Fighting weak Pokemon with Focus Blast can certainly get rid of threats like Tyranitar (who still hates water anyways) and Nattorei (resists water) and hurts Empoleon better than anything else you have. Psychic... well... hai Poliwrath! Works on poisons and fighters or stuff like Guts Roobushin that would otherwise leave a dent. If you want some coverage against other waters, I guess Hidden Power Electric works, but other waters are quite bulky so it's generally not worth using. Yeah, Froggy is full of options, and it shouldn't be ignored as a Pokemon and be "rain set up fodder". It can play as a great bulky water and is a very good support unit and deserves more use overall, be it Drizzler or not (though most people will settle for Drizzle). The set I use?

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Goryeo (Politoed) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Drizzle

EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 76 SDef / 4 Spd

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Substitute

- Toxic

- Ice Beam

- Boil Over

I guess I was trying to capitalize on its bulk by giving it respectable 230/280 defenses (though I could go more), and 4 speed just to troll on other leads. However, you usually want weather leads to be slower than other weather leads so that your weather can take precedence. Just keep that in mind. Substitute helps against random statusers (lest they attack first, so I doubt it's ideal), Toxic for general annoyance, Ice Beam for "coverage" and Boil Over for STAB and that nice burn chance, capitalizing that 230 defense. Simple set... but I'm on my way on revising this. I'll probably run Encore or some other generally nastily annoying move. I'd try to emphasize on its bulk so that it can play longer. What Froggy hates is status, like many other bulky waters. Toxic especially cripples it as a "wall" so a status absorber would work the best probably. I guess paralysed Froggy would work well because it cannot be status'd by anything else, though getting fully paralysed at the wrong times IS annoying. I don't normally play this frog as lead though, so Sub does work well for scouting what the other player does. In fact, I generally don't lead with weather starters. It works better for me.

So what are good partners for Froggy? Rain abusers seem obvious, such as Kingdra or Ludicolo or Floatzel or Kabutops or Omastar or any of those old guys. There's also Lapras with Hydration which can effectively set up Dragon Dances in the rain and not worry about status, and Rest off any damage done to her after the progress of setting up while being a very bulky monster. I love that thing. Oddly enough, Dragonite makes a great player in the rain. What do I mean? Well, Dragonite is normally thought to be physical, but what about the ridiculous special movepool of his? The old dragon of the past has new tools to play with, namely Hurricane, its new special 120 STAB coming off his base 100 special attack. It may have 70% accuracy, but just like Thunder, its accuracy raises to 100% in rain and has 30% chance of confusion. Not bad I'll say. So I run Hurricane and Thunder in one set, as stuff like 248 HP Scizor takes over 80% damage from it and things neutral to it in general don't like it. Thunder hits bulky waters and particularly Gyarados for super effective damage. In return, Dragonite resists the grass moves aimed at most of these water Pokemon very well and is neutral to electric moves. Its high Special Defense is also very good for sponging electrical assaults from the likes of bulky Zapdos. Speaking of bulky Zapdos, what about him? Doesn't he wall Hurricane and Thunder with his new ability Lightningrod? Why yes it does, but that's why we have Dragon Dance and Outrage. You can set up Dragon Dance on things you force out and with a few investment, Zapdos will have a HIGH chance of being OHKOd by a + 1 LO Outrage after Stealth Rocks damage. Even without SR it's sustaining high damage and it isn't beating Dragonite any time soon. So here is that Dragonite set I used...

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Josun (Dragonite) (F) @ Life Orb

Trait: Multi-Scale

EVs: 80 Atk / 232 SAtk / 196 Spd

Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)

- Dragon Dance

- Hurricane

- Thunder

- Outrage

196 Speed hits 245 to troll on most defensive Zapdos and other things that are hitting 244 speed to troll on 243 Jolly max speed Tyranitars, and the 80 Attack (unless I am wrong) OHKOs defensive Zapdos with Outrage after SR and + 1 and leaves many things in pain, and the rest went into Special Attack to maximize Hurricane and Thunder damage. Try it out if you can, as grass moves tend to be obvious and Dragonite can certainly take hits very well. Just beware of Priority Ice Sharders and the likes, but you have waters to deal with that. One thing you may notice is the lack of Roost or Leftovers. If you need to, you can just make this set all special, run Agility instead of Dragon Dance, and put Roost in place of Outrage and run something like Surf to take advantage of the rain or STAB Dragon Pulse to take advantage of dual STABs and adjust your EVs to fit your needs better. It sounds practical, but I have not tried it out yet.

I'll start analyzing Ninetales soon.

[Sabeta]

Nobody seems to play Ulgamoth right. It runs Flame Dance, Bug Buzz, and Hidden Power Ground, so that it can dish the hurt on Heatran, Shandeera, and Nintales, as well as anything else really (that's fire type, and would otherwise wall me) Also, it runs Lum Berry so it can get a free +1 when your opponents try to status you. Trust me when I say (As I have used it quite extensively) that Shandeera cannot do ANYTHING to a proper Ulgamoth; especially if you get it locked into the wrong move, as most if not all are scarfed.

Ninetales is win, but tricky to play this gen, what with all the heavy hitters. Solar Beam is an alright move, but I stopped using it due to the inherent risk factor associated with it.

[wraith89]

Actually, many people do play Uglymoth right and it always does get to set up. And good players won't let it set up completely, much like how a good player won't let Gyarados set up and tear a whole team apart (though Gyarados is a lot easier to switch in... and I have a lot of trouble with Gyarados sometimes). It's just not everyone runs Hidden Power Ground, though I would say it is the most beneficial so that stuff like Heatran won't wall it (as it resists both of its STAB moves). Though, that leaves it open to something ilke Gyarados or whatever, so Hidden Power Rock could be used for that I guess (and also allowing you to beat opponent Uglymoths), but Heatran comes in a lot easier. I see a lot of HP Ice versions for some reason because they're so afraid of dragons, but that way, Fire pokemon in general (like my Ninetales) just plain out walls it after a while. Uglymoth can't work with just both of its STAB from what I've seen... Hidden Powers of appropriate kinds need to be put in. I've been able to destroy that thing with Ninetales all the time though, but then again, I've been running tricky things like Confuse Ray and Calm Mind and running an incredibly defensive EV spread. But that Uglymoth is something... it's rather scary that I have to come in while it Butterfly Dances. I guess that's what Stealth Rocks are for.

This whole new metagame is tricky as things are hitting incredibly hard (that dragon with 147 attack with STAB Outrage and access too DD and SD? Really?) and weather play is becoming very dominant. So today, I'd like to take this time to analyze the other side of the weather, the sun. And today we're here to see the underlooked Fire Pokemon Ninetales, who gained access to Drought, formerly Groudon's exclusive ability which instantly brings in the sun. So what application would sun bring? From previous experiences, we see that sun was a very weak weather, but the sun may bring new tactics that we may not have expected before. I still think rain and sand are still too powerful, but we'll see what the sun can do.

Now what about Ninetales? Before Gen V people always saw Ninetales as some average Fire type Pokemon with very average stats and supportive movepool. Likened to fellow Fire Pokemon like Arcanine and Houndoom, she is not nearly as powerful as either of them. Arcanine, as we know, is a very powerful Fire Pokemon with above average speed, great offenses and above average defenses. There were many reasons to use Arcanine, as a powerful sweeper, a defensive tank, a revenge killer, etc. There's no reason to argue with it either, as it had access to Intimidate, a priority move in form of Extremespeed (likened to be its signature move from Gen II), and could even wall Gyarados if you EV it that way (I beat most Gyarados with Arcanine... not all though). Talk about versatile! Houndoom is just scary. He comes in, sets up Nasty Plot and starts firing dual STAB Dark Pulse (Crunch before Gen IV) and Flamethrower/Fire Blasts off that nasty 115 SpA. His defenses are nothing impressive, but this thing hits hard and at least 2HKOs just about any switch ins not named Blissey. Even something like Rapidash has a speed of 105 which is faster than Ninetales's 100 and can still use Hypnosis just like Ninetales. Let's not get into the others like scary wallbreaking Magmortars and Blaziken and Infernape... and the all so versatile Heatran. So what has Ninetales got over the other fires (aside from the fact she learns Flamethrower earlier than the others in game and that she is guaranteed Flash Fire unlike the other Fires with alternate abilities)?

Ninetales, as I emphasized many times, was intended to play a supportive role. We have stuff like Confuse Ray, Toxic, Will-o-Wisp, and the risky Hypnosis to cripple opponents and Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to boost your own special attack and special defense, or raise special attack by 2 stages, respectively. In Gen IV she was also able to utilize Magic Coat to bounce stuff like Stealth Rocks and Taunt back at her foes and Pain Split for those bulky Calm Minders along with Substitute. Grudge is always fun if you want to deplete someone's PP, and can turn the tide of the battle. She is definitely not short of support, and with 73/75/100 defenses, she seems frail, but look again. With Will-o-Wisp, she has a chance of "pseudo raising" her physical defense, and her special defense is already quite good. In fact, capitalizing it will allow Ninetales to not even be 3HKOd by defensive Zapdos (impressive?) and Calm Mind can bolster her special defense up. But do us all a favor and don't stay in on a Kyogre's Surf... that's gonna OHKO the poor fox no doubt. As for her offensive movelist... let's make it clear. She is more apt specially than physically(76 physical attack vs 81 special attack), and her only form of physical attack boosting is Howl, which Arcanine could use much better. She has Flare Blitz, Payback, Faint Attack, Dig, Quick Attack... need I go on? I don't believe physical is the way to go here, but if you want something unexpected, go ahead and try it out. Nitro Charge can be used though to boost her already decent speed, but usually you will not find room for it. But specially, Ninetales has some interesting moves. She has Overheat, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Energy Ball, Solarbeam, Extrasensory, Dark Pulse, and the new Psycho Shock and Evil Eye. Her STAB moves will have to be in one of her moveslots, no question about that. What's a Ninetales without a fire move? It's also worth noting that Energy Ball hits Rock/Ground/Water Pokemon, all of which are Ninetales's weakness. Solarbeam is there for you to take advantage of Drought, but the risk of getting caught by another weather (ab)user is quite harmful and usually not worth running. Extrasensory hits Infernape and Tentacruel and Blaziken while Dark Pulse hits Psychics and Ghosts. Note that Dark Pulse is illegal with Drought. Now what about her newly acquired moves, Psycho Shock and Evil Eye? Psycho Shock is actually a blessing, as it targets the foe's physical defense despite running from her modest special attack. So those Tentacruels who decide to wall you with their awesome special defense? Denied! Say hello to Psycho Shock! You don't even have to run a physical attack usually, I guess, and it certainly helps against those CM wars (barring crits). And Evil Eye provides the same coverage Dark Pulse had. However, its base power turns to 100 if the opponent is in a major status condition, such as paralysis/poison/burn, etc, which Ninetales is certainly well capable of. I guess its only usage is against those Burungels who would switch into Ninetales, but other than that, Evil Eye is better off on something like Tentacruel, where ghosts are more than happy to spinblock. But the option is still there. You also have Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to bolster her modest special attack to higher levels. Ninetales is a true beast if one plays her correctly, and should never be underestimated. Her deceptive beauty and wits will allow her to get her way in many battles... just make sure you trick your opponents and not fall into their traps and Ninetales can work in many ways for you.

As for her abilities? Flash Fire is definitely a good ability and will always be, as it grants her immunity to fire attacks and powers her own fire moves. But with this new Dream World thing, Ninetales has a new niche of her own, to cause eternal sunshine and to shine all her glory around. Though Froggy is mostly outclassed by Kyogre in MANY MANY aspects, Ninetales is anything BUT Groudon so there are many reasons to use her over Groudon (though you wouldn't in Uber battling I'd say, but there are SOME people going around saying U N00B NO SUCH THINGS AS 00BURZ because everything is "unbanned" at this point, so... just for the sake of this argument...). Anyhow, what are the practical applications of Sunny Day? Well, for one, you are powering up Fire attacks and reducing water moves to ashes, so benefiting one's STAB moves and reducing a certain weakness is always helpful. It is also helpful to stuff with Chlorophyll and Solar Power users. Things like the new Chlorophyll Venusaur and Solar Power Charizard comes into mind. Also, you can have the sun on your side not just to benefit your own team, but to halt a sweep from coming, even if you're not using a sun team. Say for example a monster Doryuzuu decides to sweep your team in the sand. If the mole is not behind a substitute, you can bring in Ninetales, change the weather into sun, and roast the mole before it can do anything else to you. It's worth noting Ninetales is much faster than the mole and the mole has a weakness to fire, so she is certainly a "check" (but please in God's name do NOT switch in directly into an Earthquake or a Rock Slide, or else you will be sorry). Just as a reference, the Mole can hit a max of 302 speed in Jolly, so if you are planning on revenging the mole, hit above that (I don't believe many people will go Jolly on the mole however, but there are some jerks who do it to troll). Those are just few of the many applications of Drought, but I encourage you to go ahead and make your own use of Drought and see how well it works. Now how about Ninetales as a weather lead? Just don't do it. Wait what? What do you mean don't make her a lead? This is the thing... Ninetales is the fastest weather lead out there. If she is put up first and put up against a Tyranitar, the sand will take precedence and completely ruin your strategy, forcing Ninetales to switch. Same for rain and hail (though Abomasnow would certainly not want to stay on Ninetales anyhow, but hail is still dangerous). So what I would suggest you do with Ninetales is to bring it out later to disrupt the concurrent weather, bringing a lot of tension to the opposing team. Now they will try to bring back the weather to their favor, so play wisely and try to predict what they will do. A Hippowdon/Tyranitar will hate a Will-o-Wisp in their faces (lest it be a specstar or the likes) or straight out hate taking that Energy Ball (though bulky Tyranitars laugh at it usually) and Politoeds hate Toxics and is weak to Energy Ball (but still takes it rather well). Abomasnow will not switch in on Ninetales, but it deals with other Grass Pokemon or bulky waters really well, so be careful with your grass teammates. Keep Ninetales healthy and get entry hazards off and continue to put pressure on your foes (which the tricky fox is well capable of) and you will see what a valuable asset Ninetales is.

So the sets I use? Meh, I don't really have many sets for Ninetales, to be honest, as I struggle making sets for her. She is one of those "can do many many things but suffers a 4 moveslot syndrome" victim. But let's see what I have...

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Mary (Ninetales) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Flash Fire / Drought

EVs: 56 HP / 56 Def / 8 SAtk / 136 SDef / 252 Spd (or some other spread... like more special attack)

Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

- Calm Mind/Nasty Plot/Toxic/Will-o-Wisp/Nitro Charge

- Substitute/Confuse Ray/Toxic/Will-o-Wisp

- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

- Energy Ball/Psycho Shock/Hidden Power [Fighting/Ground]/Pain Split

Old school Ninetales... you have MANY MANY options. The EVs seem too random? Just make sure you max speed, but give her some bulk and some special attack. If you are running Calm Mind, have Substitute in handy so you can emphasize on her bulk. You can Pain Split along with it and run Flamethrower, BUT that will leave you walled completely by something like Heatran, though you may be able to stall it out by some chance. Or just run a secondary attack, preferably Energy Ball or Psycho Shock to deal with foes you do not like to meet. Energy Ball hits waters and rocks and grounds, most notably Swampert or Hippowdon, while Psycho Shock can beat Tentacruels and Infernapes, but leaves you walled to Tyranitar. Run Hidden Power Fighting to deal with Tars and Heatrans instead, and Ground can deal with both, but I say Tyranitar is a bigger danger, but it's up to your team's needs. You can also go double status and use Toxic and Will-o-Wisp. Confuse Ray for being annoying (and it works, trust me... 50% of the time). Substitute + three attacks also works well. If you are using Nasty Plot, go ahead and make your EVs more offensive... even if it means going lazy with 252 SpA / 6 SpDef / 252 Speed. Nitro Charge is useful if you can force a switch and end up faster than the your foe and destroy them with another move, but I don't believe it is too practical as Ninetales was not meant for that. It's still up there for consideration. Flash Fire vs Drought, it's entirely up to you. Fire immunity or... unleash the power of the sun? As stupid as it seems, I run Calm Mind, Confuse Ray, Energy Ball, and Flamethrower with Flash Fire. Meh, as long as it benefits the team, I suppose I don't care what I run.

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Hauteclere (Ninetales) (F) @ Leftovers

Trait: Drought

EVs: 200 HP / 52 Def / 216 SDef / 40 Spd

Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)

- Will-O-Wisp

- Toxic

- Flamethrower

- Psycho Shock

For your bulky needs. You are not revenging the mole this way though, as many run max speed or something stupid, so use the set above for that... but this thing capitalizes on just annoying your foes. I got the EVs from Smogon, as this allows you to survive three Thunderbolts from Defensive Zapdos (Ninetales IS bulky believe it or not) and you can go ahead and burn stuff or poison stuff. Cripple things and switch out if you know you cannot beat them. Psycho Shock is for Tentacruels and Flamethrower to take advantage of STAB + Sun. It's all fun. 246 speed trolls on those 245ers who just try to beat 244ers who are aiming to beat max speed Jolly Tyranitars... and the rest went to defenses. Playing Ninetales bulky isn't as far fetch'd as it sounds so go ahead and try her out. You can move some of the defense/special defense EVs to speed if you wish. Remember, adamant max speed Moles hit 275 speed. Want to troll on them? Hit 276 or higher (requires a lot more speed EVs then). Unless you run + speed, you will not beat Jolly versions who hit 302 max, so refer to the other set. This one emphasizes on being bulky and having more survivability overall. That's about all.

I guess I ranted enough about this fox today. Just be careful of those hard hitting stuff of today's metagame, because things ARE becoming overkill. But what can you expect from designers who try to make newer Pokemon seem better than the rest? Though... I still can't believe they gave two of my favorite Pokemon auto-weather abilities. Sounds too good to be true in my opinion. I guess I'll have to analyze the other guys next.

[Sabeta]

I'll agree that this Meta is tricky, but most because atm people are going around spamming Ubers everywhere.

Ftr, Ono has such horrid Defenses it balances out his insane offensive skill.