it's definitely about time zoro got banned from RU, it's criminally underused and is just crazy good at what it does, and takes luring to a whole new level that is just really hard to prepare for because of all its options, i've experimented and had some form of success with all kinds of zoros, from SD life orb, to SD Z fighting/ flying, to nasty plot, spex, scarf, and it was very easy to catch would-be counters to several threats in the tiers by just playing the zoro correctly and not revealing it by being careless with the item reveal (disguised as a fat mon for example that would run lefties but it not having it), or hazards. It's just really easy to pair it with something that has trouble getting past a selection of mons, and its wide movepool lets it be disguised as several kinds, here are some examples:
-SD zoro disguised as other SD pokemon like virizion/gatr to catch psychic types and ghosts fat waters/p2
-NP zoro disguised as other NP pokemon like salazzle to take out things like snorlax and cresselia
-band/spex hitting/crippling would be counters really really hard, i.e zoro as nidoqueen/other grounds to take out bronzong/ground immunes, as psychics or fairies or grasses to take out steels, as a hazard setter to take out xatu
- scarf that can revenge kill set up mons with foul play (although im not the biggest fan of the scarf set)
- Z moves can make it even better at getting key kills, like Z fight to take out umbreon regi snorlax after a boost, bounce which i tried in snake to get rid of any fighting
It just puts so much strain on the opponent to not only have to make sure that he's battling the right pokemon, but also to keep in mind that almost any pokemon can be it, while knowing that it's supposed to lure the counter.
Yes, it can be revealed if the item is revealed and hazards etc, but it's not that hard to get around that honestly, there are many options for zoroark to be disguised as something that does not get revealed with hazards (like cresselia/gligar if spikes arent up, fighting types if rocks arent up, and the zoro user gets to decide from preview what it looks like that zoro will disguise itself better as, and what his team needs to take out more urgently on a case by case basis every battle. It can also be used early if the hazards are such an issue, or simply disguised as something that takes normal hazard damage like milotic, snorlax (a common zoro disguise cuz of ghosts and fightings being lured)
here are a couple of replays that had key zoro success:
here, zoro was just being zoro, needed 1 turn vs an unprepared team, just through sheer power
here, zoro lures chesnaught to pave the way for ches weak mons
in this one, zoro was revealed but it's such a good mon even without its ability that it cleans quite easily with its powerful priority
turn 4, a smart double catches cress with zoro disguised as zygarde
lead zoro doing a ton of damage turn 1 by not only bluffing scarf on tyrant, but also catch gligar, so it's already several levels of mind games that the zoro-facer has to go through
these replays are not to simply showcase how illusion works, but it's to show how difficult it is and how varied zoro can be, not only as the options of disguise, but also the sets and items, which can be rly difficult to handle, because it gets all the right tools to eliminate whatever it wants if u need it eliminated, flamethrower, sludge bomb if fairies get more popular, grass knot, focusblast, low kick, and ofc the stab incredible utility move with great damage output knock off, as well as a strong priority stab in sucker, 2 ways of setting up it's above average offensive stats, and an immunity to compliment other mons weak to that immunity (dark disguised as poison or fight to bait the psychic move etc), additional utility in pursuit, and random coverage moves to make z work or without it like bounce, extrasensory, memento for utility, etc
tl;dr: zoro needs to get banned