After a couple days of laddering, I would like to give a more developed opinion (which doesn't limit itself to a first impression like the previous one). I will only talk about the Pokemon / Set I tested.
Well, when I saw this drop 2 days ago, I was like "OMG BAN this thing, it's broken" but now I'm clearly on the fence for Xurkitree. It's clearly a huge threat for a lot of Pokemon since his coverage (Electric / Grass / Ice) is kinda amazing but I'm not sure it's broken. It's difficult to set-up this thing and the set with Z-Hypnosis depend a lot of the accuracy of Hypnosis (which is 60%.. So you have basically about 1/2 chance to miss your attack and be nuke in return). Furthermore, since Keldeo and Clefable rose to OU, Hydreigon recovered a huge place in the tier and threatened a lot of team. It can easily check or revenge kill with Choice Scarf Xurkitree which sucks because it mean you need to take care of it.. and it's not easy trust me. Xurkitree can be RK by basically 95% of the common Choice Scarf users and Aerodactyl-Mega too (which gain a lot to my mind with the new Pokemon in the tier).
tl;dr : Xurkitree is a really good Pokemon but his lack of speed (even at +1) is really annonying. Imo you really need to build arround to make it shine (I see it like a Terrakion-like).
Here some exemples of set I tested :
Xurkitree @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot / Tail Glow
- Hidden Power [Ice]
It's a classic set, like in OU. Z-Hypnosis put to sleep a Pokemon and give +1 Speed to Xurkitree which allows it to outspeed Pokemon with a 145 BS Speed (like Sceptile-Mega & Beedrill-Mega). Grass Knot is better than Energy Ball since you hit harder Hippodown, Steelix-Mega or even Raikou.
Xurkitree @ Electrium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electric Terrain
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot / Tail Glow
- Hidden Power [Ice]
A variant of the previous set. Z-Electric Terrain is like Hypnosis cuz it give +1 Speed to Xurkitree but also prevent your Pokemon on the ground to be put asleep (which is cool vs Z-Hypnosis Xurkitree) and rise the power of Electric attacks by 50% during 5 turns. Since Xurkitree run Electrium Z and not Psychium Z you can also decide if you don't need +1 Speed to nuke something in your opponent team with Z-Thunderbolt aka Gigavolt Havoc.
I personnaly run 3 atk instead of 2 atk + Tail Glow since I see this set like a Late-Game Sweeper set.
Welp I'm not sure how good this thing is since imo it needs 4 atk to have the best coverage. But it's a fantastic physical wall even with no investisment in HP or Def. It can check stuff like Mamoswine which is great and I kinda like it. Since it's in UU, I've seen people run Scizor with Aerial Ace and a lot more of Crobat (which like Hydreigon have gained in popularity).
Set :
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Life
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake / Ice Punch
EV in Speed allows Buzzwole to outspeed Modest Primarina and Adamant Bewear (if you want to outspeed Timid Primarina and Jolly Bewear you need to run 188 Speed). Subsitute allows Buzzwole to Focus Punch but I think you can play an other Fighting STAB like Hammer Arm if you don't like Focus Punch. Leech Life & Lefties for the recovery. The last slot depend of what you want to deal with : Earthquake allows Buzzwole to pass through Tentacruel when Ice Punch take care of Gliscor & Crobat.
I was waiting for Steelix-Mega in Underused and OMFG I love it. This Pokemon check so much things : Raikou, Latias, Xurkitree, Crobat, Aerodactyl-Mega, Beedrill-Mega etc..
With Wish support like Alomomola, this thing is pretty hard to K.O.
Set :
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar / Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
I personnaly play Steelix-Mega with max HP / SpD which allows him to take care easily of Latias / Raikou / Xurkitree. Both STAB do good damage as you can see :
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Latias: 171-202 (56.8 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Heavy Slam (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 144-171 (44.3 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Cobalion: 212-252 (65.6 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Roar is better to phaze but if you don't need that, I guess Toxic is also a decent option.
Finnaly this cool bird is back. I'm a big fan of Pidgeot-Mega and I kinda disagree with people who said that it will be broken. Tbh, with Confusion nerf, Hurricane is clearly not as strong as it was in ORAS (not sure if I said my idea well sry). In SM, Hurricane mean 30% of confusion and 1/3 to hurt yourself if you are confused (which mean Hurricane is 10% to hit yourself in confusion). Aerodactyl-Mega is a huge counter to hit and it's kinda unfortunate.. I played with it and I'm clearly not convinced of it.. Maybe I tested the wrong set.
Set :
Pidgeot-Mega @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Work Up
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave / U-turn / Refresh
I not tested Beedrill-Mega a lot but I think it's a solid Pokemon. U-Turn is really great and it's perfect when you paired it with Krook (Scarf / Band).
Set :
Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- Drill Run
Tbh I think Drill Run is the best option (better than K-Off because of Z-Crystal and since you don't play with Drill Run you're counter by too many things like Cobalion).
Well, when I saw this drop 2 days ago, I was like "OMG BAN this thing, it's broken" but now I'm clearly on the fence for Xurkitree. It's clearly a huge threat for a lot of Pokemon since his coverage (Electric / Grass / Ice) is kinda amazing but I'm not sure it's broken. It's difficult to set-up this thing and the set with Z-Hypnosis depend a lot of the accuracy of Hypnosis (which is 60%.. So you have basically about 1/2 chance to miss your attack and be nuke in return). Furthermore, since Keldeo and Clefable rose to OU, Hydreigon recovered a huge place in the tier and threatened a lot of team. It can easily check or revenge kill with Choice Scarf Xurkitree which sucks because it mean you need to take care of it.. and it's not easy trust me. Xurkitree can be RK by basically 95% of the common Choice Scarf users and Aerodactyl-Mega too (which gain a lot to my mind with the new Pokemon in the tier).
tl;dr : Xurkitree is a really good Pokemon but his lack of speed (even at +1) is really annonying. Imo you really need to build arround to make it shine (I see it like a Terrakion-like).
Here some exemples of set I tested :
Xurkitree @ Psychium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hypnosis
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot / Tail Glow
- Hidden Power [Ice]
It's a classic set, like in OU. Z-Hypnosis put to sleep a Pokemon and give +1 Speed to Xurkitree which allows it to outspeed Pokemon with a 145 BS Speed (like Sceptile-Mega & Beedrill-Mega). Grass Knot is better than Energy Ball since you hit harder Hippodown, Steelix-Mega or even Raikou.
Xurkitree @ Electrium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electric Terrain
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot / Tail Glow
- Hidden Power [Ice]
A variant of the previous set. Z-Electric Terrain is like Hypnosis cuz it give +1 Speed to Xurkitree but also prevent your Pokemon on the ground to be put asleep (which is cool vs Z-Hypnosis Xurkitree) and rise the power of Electric attacks by 50% during 5 turns. Since Xurkitree run Electrium Z and not Psychium Z you can also decide if you don't need +1 Speed to nuke something in your opponent team with Z-Thunderbolt aka Gigavolt Havoc.
I personnaly run 3 atk instead of 2 atk + Tail Glow since I see this set like a Late-Game Sweeper set.
Welp I'm not sure how good this thing is since imo it needs 4 atk to have the best coverage. But it's a fantastic physical wall even with no investisment in HP or Def. It can check stuff like Mamoswine which is great and I kinda like it. Since it's in UU, I've seen people run Scizor with Aerial Ace and a lot more of Crobat (which like Hydreigon have gained in popularity).
Set :
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Life
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake / Ice Punch
EV in Speed allows Buzzwole to outspeed Modest Primarina and Adamant Bewear (if you want to outspeed Timid Primarina and Jolly Bewear you need to run 188 Speed). Subsitute allows Buzzwole to Focus Punch but I think you can play an other Fighting STAB like Hammer Arm if you don't like Focus Punch. Leech Life & Lefties for the recovery. The last slot depend of what you want to deal with : Earthquake allows Buzzwole to pass through Tentacruel when Ice Punch take care of Gliscor & Crobat.
I was waiting for Steelix-Mega in Underused and OMFG I love it. This Pokemon check so much things : Raikou, Latias, Xurkitree, Crobat, Aerodactyl-Mega, Beedrill-Mega etc..
With Wish support like Alomomola, this thing is pretty hard to K.O.
Set :
Steelix-Mega @ Steelixite
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roar / Toxic
- Heavy Slam
- Earthquake
I personnaly play Steelix-Mega with max HP / SpD which allows him to take care easily of Latias / Raikou / Xurkitree. Both STAB do good damage as you can see :
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Latias: 171-202 (56.8 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Heavy Slam (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 144-171 (44.3 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
8 Atk Steelix-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Cobalion: 212-252 (65.6 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Roar is better to phaze but if you don't need that, I guess Toxic is also a decent option.
Finnaly this cool bird is back. I'm a big fan of Pidgeot-Mega and I kinda disagree with people who said that it will be broken. Tbh, with Confusion nerf, Hurricane is clearly not as strong as it was in ORAS (not sure if I said my idea well sry). In SM, Hurricane mean 30% of confusion and 1/3 to hurt yourself if you are confused (which mean Hurricane is 10% to hit yourself in confusion). Aerodactyl-Mega is a huge counter to hit and it's kinda unfortunate.. I played with it and I'm clearly not convinced of it.. Maybe I tested the wrong set.
Set :
Pidgeot-Mega @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Roost
- Work Up
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave / U-turn / Refresh
I not tested Beedrill-Mega a lot but I think it's a solid Pokemon. U-Turn is really great and it's perfect when you paired it with Krook (Scarf / Band).
Set :
Beedrill-Mega @ Beedrillite
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
- Poison Jab
- Drill Run
Tbh I think Drill Run is the best option (better than K-Off because of Z-Crystal and since you don't play with Drill Run you're counter by too many things like Cobalion).
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