Ayee we finally got a ladder, a council and shifts happen. Glad to see the community making it work!
Soo I'm just gonna spit out some thoughts in random order about what do we got now.
1. What we lost:
Hitmonchan is a big lost for the meta, being easily top5 mon as a reliable spinner and an overall strong breaker and also check to p much everything. Chan was super splashable and losing makes hazard control a lot worse now. Making stacking better.
Weezing is another glue mon thats gone now, Tspike user and check to prominent threats like Sceptile and Toxicroak, and could blanket some hits from strong normal attackers and punishing with Willo. Obviously this makes the aforementioned better now.
Lastly,
Cacturne imo wasnt even good. It was a mediocre spiker cuz of its awful bulk and overall unreliable to keep them on the field. So I don't care that much about this one. It might have gotten better if it stayed and Chan rise up.
2. What we gain:
Imo, two huge additions for offense in the meta.
Aerodactyl has now the highest speed tier bypassing big Sceptile and even tho its movepool its narrowed now it doesnt need that much to be good. Edgequake coverage with the good offensive atk for the tier would make it a prominent presence. Still gets checked by Regi and slash, also might struggle to get pass Leafeon and Poliwrath due to Aerial ace being the best flying move it gets. But still a great mon in paper, would like to see how it performs. Giving now some vanilla sets I think may work. s/o to Melons-N-Soda for addressing one already n.n
Lo attacker (Aerodactyl) @ Life Orb
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace / Stealth Rock / Taunt
- Roost
CB (Aerodactyl) @ Choice Band
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide / Sleep Talk / Crunch (?
Suicide Lead (Aerodactyl) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Rock Tomb / Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Weather setter (? (Aerodactyl) @ Heat Rock / Damp Rock
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Tomb
- Taunt
- Sunny Day / Rain Dance
Ninetales might look very mid but I think its speed tier combined with inmediate boost power in NP and access to Energy Ball to break Rock types like Regirock, Golem, Rhydon and big Lanturn makes it have a place within the other fire types we got. I dont really see any other set as NP just gives it the best way of entering as a sweeper/breaker. Flash fire also is solid to switch on zard/typh and itself lol. I think this might be very good with only opposing fires checking it.
Ninetales @ Leftovers / Charcoal
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Energy Ball
- Substitute / Disable / Hypnosis / Will-O-Wisp / Flame Charge / whatever u want
3. Our vast and handful amount of viable hazard control <3
Lets have a look at this lmao.
3.1 Rapid Spin:
Ye thats it, dont ask for more.
Sandslash got the crown as the best spinner now with Chan leaving and def got better because of it. It was already solid and now well, its the best we have. It can punish spinblockers with either Stone Edge or Night Slash and have some good offensive presence with potential SD sets. Pure ground is also unique for it and helps in some situations.
Armaldo is basically here because its not hot garbage but its mid. Slow and its the second best we have in this department. Typing sucks and even tho its kinda strong its slow af and its mediocre mon but its there yknow.
3.2 Defog:
/
???
Yknow at least the list here is somewhat bigger.
The first 4 here are very decent hazard control and provide different support each.
Pelipper has very nice defensive typing and utility in knock and uturn combined with its flying type to make it a ground inmunity and pivot into fire types easily, also hurricane to hit grass types. But sometimes that rock weakness can be a nuisance so
Lumineon doing the same but w no flying is also worth mentioning.
Big
Gligar got even better with Chan gone meaning it still one of our best glue mons, very splashable and great at doing its job of removing hazards, items, get momentum and help the team.
Skuntank has an amazing typing both offensive and defensively, allowing to check psychics like mime and jynx while also checking Sceptile and providing Defog.
The other 3 idk they might have some minor usage as deffogers (I think Defog Drifblim is a waste) and Dustox movepool isnt terrible, also checks Sceptile quite well (? Just wanted to drop them there if we have to expand this deparment a little.
4.
The big spiker King
Behold our only viable Spiker
and Tspiker now. Qwilfish got honestly the best out of this shift cuz now all those roles are made by this mon, and losing chan means hazard control is narrowed as well. This mon will rise a lot more now in usage with the staple of Kangaspikes teams, and any sort of hazard stacking. Also punishes both spinners with water stab and access to Taunt to keep them spikes on the field. Go big Qwil
5. Potential bans (?
/
??
With the first month of alpha, meta has adapted to the ones thought as inmediate broken threats for Sceptile and so on. These dont need further elaboration because they have been covered in previous already. I'd like to point out that the first two I still find broken or at least too much centralizing. The latter 4 are in doubt for me. I put
Zangoose here because it can easily break the rock checks with boosted Close Combat unlike Tauros which is actually ok fsr.
Kangaskhan and
Haunter also dont find them busted but they are stupid good and solid in their roles. And lastly I wanted to mention
Jynx because I know a good part of the nu squad finds it busted even though Im still in the opposite side with it.
Would like to hear thoughts of these guys. ^^
Big ass post again Lmao. P.S: Tagging
Pokeslice here cuz of sample teams. Flareon Stall by Eve is also outdated cuz it has Weezing. (Also cuz I want to gain Luvdisc on this) See yall! n.n