Resource Don't Use That; Use This (ORAS Version)

[Timid_Metagross]

PLEASE Don't use this:

Heliolisk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hyper Voice
- Surf
- Volt Switch

Why it's bad:
I honestly don't even know why heliolisk is even used at all in low ladder ou. Though it's special stats may look pretty appealing, it is paper thin and just can't hold it's own in ou. There are so many better special electric types to use, and ones that can actually take hits and deliver them back. Heliolisk may be good in lower tiers, but in ou it can't compete with the competition. Heliolisks abilities are pretty solid, but the useful ones have drawbacks. With dry skin, you have a new weakness to fire to handle and with solar power, your hp is being drained after each turn (if you actually want to try to use this thing on a sun team).

Use this:

Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- HP Ice
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball

Why it's good:
Raikour has better stats in every single stat than heliolisk, and it also has a better movepool to cover more types. It loses the fighting and possible fire weakness heliolisk may have, and has decent 75/100 defenses. Raikou is just the better mon defensively and offensively. It doesn't need a scarf because of it's amazing speed tier, outspeeding all base 110's. With the choice specs, Raikou is a fast, hard hitting pokemon that can take hits decently well. Heliolisk can't compete with this because it just looks completely mediocre compared to Raikou in all aspects.

 

[boltsandbombers]

PLEASE Don't use this:

Heliolisk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hyper Voice
- Surf
- Volt Switch

Why it's bad:
I honestly don't even know why heliolisk is even used at all in low ladder ou. Though it's special stats may look pretty appealing, it is paper thin and just can't hold it's own in ou. There are so many better special electric types to use, and ones that can actually take hits and deliver them back. Heliolisk may be good in lower tiers, but in ou it can't compete with the competition. Heliolisks abilities are pretty solid, but the useful ones have drawbacks. With dry skin, you have a new weakness to fire to handle and with solar power, your hp is being drained after each turn (if you actually want to try to use this thing on a sun team).
Use this:

(couldn't find the non-shiny sprite :P)
Raikou @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball

Why it's good:
Raikour has better stats in every single stat than heliolisk, and it also has a better movepool to cover more types. It loses the fighting and possible fire weakness heliolisk may have, and has decent 75/100 defenses. Raikou is just the better mon defensively and offensively. It doesn't need a scarf because of it's amazing speed tier, outspeeding all base 110's. With the choice specs, Raikou is a fast, hard hitting pokemon that can take hits decently well. Heliolisk can't compete with this because it just looks completely mediocre compared to Raikou in all aspects.

Raikou needs a Rash nature to run Aura Sphere due to it being event-locked, and it doesnt really hit that much relevant in OU. I have no idea why HP Ice is not on the set, its like necessary :s

 

[Clone]

Raikou needs a Rash nature to run Aura Sphere due to it being event-locked, and it doesnt really hit that much relevant in OU. I have no idea why HP Ice is not on the set, its like necessary :s

Not that I agree with Raikou running Aura Sphere (which is literally ONLY because its nature locked), but aura sphere actually hits a lot, most notably Heatran, ferro, Excadrill, TTar, and magnezone, things that otherwise wall it really well (it hits like 33% harder than T Bolt on tran, for example, and hits everything else when tbolt does zero)

 

[Timid_Metagross]

Raikou needs a Rash nature to run Aura Sphere due to it being event-locked, and it doesnt really hit that much relevant in OU. I have no idea why HP Ice is not on the set, its like necessary :s

changed :] ty

 

[boltsandbombers]

Not that I agree with Raikou running Aura Sphere (which is literally ONLY because its nature locked), but aura sphere actually hits a lot, most notably Heatran, ferro, Excadrill, TTar, and magnezone. again, i dont agree with running it because to do so sacrifices a lot of raikous selling points

Yeah, you're right in that aspect - if it wasnt event locked it'd be really great to use to hit those mons, but for the most part you can just volt switch out off of them bar driller.

 

[Timid_Metagross]

Timid_Metagross

c:

:)

 

[its.huey]

it's time

Don't use this:

Why it's bad:
Darmanitan admittedly seems extremely appealing on paper. 145 Base Attack with Sheer Force? STAB Flare Blitz? U-turn for momentum? Decent coverage in Edgequake and/or Superpower? 95 speed? Well, fuck, just slap a scarf on it and it'll do some work! ... and Shofu's existence probably increased it's usage too. Regardless, Darmanitan is a good example of a Pokémon that's not necessarily... bad as such in OU - it definitely has it's flaws such as fraility and stealth rock weakness - but it's simply hard for it to carve a niche for itself when there's basically other Pokémon that can do it's role better and it has nothing to differentiate itself from them. As it's hard to illustrate this without said Pokémon, without further ado...

Use these instead:

Why they're better:
The main Pokémon that outclasses Darmanitan here is Victini; but they all do the job better than the... (what the fuck is darmanitan) in some way. Entei boasts a lot more bulk in exchange for speed as well as the incredible Sacred Fire and coveted priority in Extremespeed, both of which make it's Choice Band set exceedingly more successful than Scarf Darm. 'Nape meanwhile has no need for a scarf because it already has a fantastic speed tier, and then it has other traits such as STAB on Close Combat, again priority in Mach Punch (boosted by Iron Fist), and mixed sets which have proven successful so it's not blocked by physical walls.
But of course, the main point here is Victini. Stick a scarf on Victini, and really, how can you justify using Darmanitan? Victini sports the far more powerful, even ridiculously powerful V-create which absolutely demolishes everything that doesn't resist it, and while you have to switch out after using it, can you honestly tell me you wouldn't switch out after Flare Blitzing something with Darm? It also gets U-turn for momentum, while it doesn't get Edgequake or Superpower it gets Bolt Strike and a STAB Zen Headbutt, and it has an arguably better typing in that it resists common types such as Fighting and Psychic (really mostly for Gallade and Metagross but you get the idea). That said it does come with a weakness to Pursuit and Knock Off so take this with a grain of salt. Talking of resisting things, as a pixie legendary it naturally sports excellent 100/100/100 bulk which is fantastic even uninvested, meaning it doesn't get OHKOed by any priority that comes it's way. Finally, Victini is much more versatile as it can also decide to run a Banded Wallbreaker set, which... is fucking scary to be quite honest. Do you want a Banded Adamant STAB V-create coming your way? I don't want a Banded Adamant STAB V-Create coming my way.


Also, another little freebie.

Don't use this:

@ Leftovers
Why it's bad:
While it may still pull off a variety of roles in UU, Vanilla Swampert simple isn't appreciated in OU anymore. As a Stealth Rock setter there are now a lot of better 'mon, as a wall there are now a lot of better 'mon with better typing and defences, and sadly enough literally every other water/ground has a niche and more use over it (except for lol whiscash). Seismitoad is a decent rocks setter while having Water Absorb, and is also alright on rain teams. Gastrodon is a great electric and water block in general, especially with the recent rise of rain teams again. And Quagsire of course has access to Unaware. Meanwhile, Swampert... basically does a worse job than Seismitoad with nothing to differentiate itself. Don't use this, please. Keep it to UU where it belongs.

Use this instead:

( boltsandbombers is an absolute babe)
Why it's better:
If you really want to use your favourite Hoenn Water starter in OU seriously, take full advantage of this amazing gift bestowed upon it by the ORAS gods. No longer outclassed at everything it wishes to do, it now has an extremely unique role on the rain teams it redefined, finally giving a bulky 'mon to the archetype while still boasting immense power and speed. Not every rain team wishes to run it and for different reasons, but Mega Swampert is a fantastic addition to the playstyle if you're looking for something that can keep up sweeping momentum despite priority and scarfers, as Megapert can very likely shrug off attacks from them and OHKO back.

small note, darmanitan has base 140 not 145 Attack. Otherwise completely accurate

 

[Kurona]

Oh boy this is gonna be a long one.
Don't use these:

Why they're bad:
Quite simply put, every single one of these Pokémon have found themselves either extremely outclassed or even just generally ineffective with no niche. Even with Sucker Punch, Absol is far too slow and frail to do anything. Aggron is a terrible defensive Pokémon due to it's low special defence and extremely large pool of weaknesses, including two 4X weaknesses to very common types which compromises it's very good defence. It's Head Smash Rock Head set isn't good either because it's so slow and even set-up it's weak to priority and is in general just a simple gimmick that is outdone by Tyrantrum anyway. There are better bulky waters and rapid spinners out there than Blastoise. Houndoom is too slow and too weak to be used over any other special attacking fire or dark type, and is too frail to set up.

Use these instead:

Why they're better:
There's a reason fans of these Pokémon got hyped when they got Megas. While most of these have niche uses, they're all still useful in OU to a certain extent. You can check out their analyses for more detail, but so as to not clutter this section, Mega Absol becomes a fantastic mixed attacker with a speed tier that beats the 110 benchmark and can also force switches to use a unique SD + Play Rough set that beats many would-be counters. Mega Aggron is unique as physical wall due to having few weaknesses coupled with Filter, stupidly good physical defence and decent HP/Special Defence, and some offensive pressure. Mega Blastoise becomes a rapid spinner with great bulk that can beat any spinblocker. And Mega Houndoom can singlehandedly dismantle stall thanks to being able to set up Nasty Plot on a variety of common stall 'mon like Mega Sableye.



There are other OU-viable Megas whose base forms are also used, but they end up between 0-2% so they're not worth mentioning. These five as well as Swampert who I previously covered are the only ones who see a significant amount of usage as shown by my printscreens, and the fact they're used without their mega stones is something I feel needed to be highlighted.

 

[Timid_Metagross]

*sigh* this one was coming sooner or later
Don't use this:

Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Zen Headbutt
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch

Why it's bad:
I wouldn't classify Mega Medicham as a bad pokemon in the oras ou metagame, it simply is simply can't compete with mega gallade when it comes to speed. Medicham may have a better attack stat, but Medicham doesn't get access to swords dance. Medicham just isn't the pokemon that it used to be in xy, and now there is basically no reason to use it over mega gallade. It is also walled by bulky ghosts, like mega sableye and cofagrigus.
Use this:

Gallade-Mega (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Why it's good:
Gallade is such an amazing pokemon, and even with an essentially useless ability, it still is one of the best megas and maybe even one of the best pokemon in the metagame at the moment. With access to knock off, it isn't walled by ghosts and with swords dance it can boost it's attack to exceed medicham's attack. With a base 110 speed, it can speed creep a lot of pokes in the ou meta. In the end, there is no reason to use medicham over gallade whatsoever.

 

[michaeloche]

*sigh* this one was coming sooner or later
Don't use this:

Medicham-Mega @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Zen Headbutt
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch

Why it's bad:
I wouldn't classify Mega Medicham as a bad pokemon in the oras ou metagame, it simply is simply can't compete with mega gallade when it comes to speed. Medicham may have a better attack stat, but Medicham doesn't get access to swords dance. Medicham just isn't the pokemon that it used to be in xy, and now there is basically no reason to use it over mega gallade. It is also walled by bulky ghosts, like mega sableye and cofagrigus.
Use this:

Gallade-Mega (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance

Why it's good:
Gallade is such an amazing pokemon, and even with an essentially useless ability, it still is one of the best megas and maybe even one of the best pokemon in the metagame at the moment. With access to knock off, it isn't walled by ghosts and with swords dance it can boost it's attack to exceed medicham's attack. With a base 110 speed, it can speed creep a lot of pokes in the ou meta. In the end, there is no reason to use medicham over gallade whatsoever.

It's also worth mentioning that Gallade has better bulk (68/95/115 vs. 60/85/85), making it less prone to getting revenged by priority users. For instance:

0 Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Medicham: 248-294 (95 - 112.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Gallade: 224-266 (80.8 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

 

[Kurona]

I know I've been posting a ton tonight but I swear this is my last one
... until tomorrow

Don't use this:

Weakness Policy + Dragon Dance
Why it's bad:
Weakness Policy is something that is still seen a lot on Dragonite. Again, this seems good on paper -- Multiscale means you can survive even a super effective hit and get an easy +2, and then Dragon Dance for speed and power for easy sweeping. However, in practise this simply doesn't work out. It's incredibly situation and is completely useless if multiscale is broken. Any good player will hold off on attacking Dragonite with a super-effective hit until Multiscale is broken just because this item exists. In addition, Dragon Dance is unfortunately not that good on Dragonite anymore. It's not necessarily bad per se, but it simply finds itself outclassed -- Charizard, Altaria and both Gyarados generally perform the job better, for instance, and arguably so does Haxorus.

Use this instead:

Choice Band + Extremespeed
Why it's better:
This has become Dragonite's main niche in OU. Choice Band gives you immediate power as Dragonite generally does not have the time to set-up and would rather preserve it's multiscale. A Banded Outrage deals out ridiculous damage, while Extremespeed allows you to deal with big priority-using threats like Talonflame and Pinsir, while also letting you stop sweepers in their tracks.

Or...

Why it's better:
If an effective Dragon Dancer is what you're looking for instead of an effective Dragonite, here's your options. Charizard X essentially does everything Dragonite does better, sporting a higher base speed, a free life orb boost in it's ability, a burn immunity and incredible dual STAB. Altaria offers an alternative, bulkier Dragon Dancing set with a better defensive typing and different offensive capabilities, but is slower than Charizard. Gyarados - both of them - also offers a bulkier approach, the non-mega having Lum Berry to heal off burns or paralysis while the mega is arguably better, with an incredible offensive and defensive typing and an ability which lets it taunt through magic bouncers. All of these have different utility to offer in their Dragon Dance sets, all of which are superior to Dragonite.

 

[Live4evil]

I know I've been posting a ton tonight but I swear this is my last one
... until tomorrow

Don't use this:

Weakness Policy + Dragon Dance
Why it's bad:
Weakness Policy is something that is still seen a lot on Dragonite. Again, this seems good on paper -- Multiscale means you can survive even a super effective hit and get an easy +2, and then Dragon Dance for speed and power for easy sweeping. However, in practise this simply doesn't work out. It's incredibly situation and is completely useless if multiscale is broken. Any good player will hold off on attacking Dragonite with a super-effective hit until Multiscale is broken just because this item exists. In addition, Dragon Dance is unfortunately not that good on Dragonite anymore. It's not necessarily bad per se, but it simply finds itself outclassed -- Charizard, Altaria and both Gyarados generally perform the job better, for instance, and arguably so does Haxorus.

Use this instead:

Choice Band + Extremespeed
Why it's better:
This has become Dragonite's main niche in OU. Choice Band gives you immediate power as Dragonite generally does not have the time to set-up and would rather preserve it's multiscale. A Banded Outrage deals out ridiculous damage, while Extremespeed allows you to deal with big priority-using threats like Talonflame and Pinsir, while also letting you stop sweepers in their tracks.

Or...

Why it's better:
If an effective Dragon Dancer is what you're looking for instead of an effective Dragonite, here's your options. Charizard X essentially does everything Dragonite does better, sporting a higher base speed, a free life orb boost in it's ability, a burn immunity and incredible dual STAB. Altaria offers an alternative, bulkier Dragon Dancing set with a better defensive typing and different offensive capabilities, but is slower than Charizard. Gyarados - both of them - also offers a bulkier approach, the non-mega having Lum Berry to heal off burns or paralysis while the mega is arguably better, with an incredible offensive and defensive typing and an ability which lets it taunt through magic bouncers. All of these have different utility to offer in their Dragon Dance sets, all of which are superior to Dragonite.

Is Lum Berry Gyarados even a thing and is it better than Lum Berry Dragonite?

 

[AM]

Lum Berry Gyarados is indeed a thing. Kurona the Darmanitan mention needs to explain that it's not only bad for the reasons you stated but bad because it gets worn down so quickly on top of Flare Blitz recoil, its terrible defensive stats, along with the mention of SR weaknesses while the other Fire types don't have all of these issues all in one package.

 

[Fourth Inversion]

Don't use these:

I'd possibly take this one off the list. Focus Sash Aerodactyl has a niche as a suicide lead on hyper offense, as it's the fastest setter of Stealth Rocks in OU and can shut down opposing slower Stealth Rock leads with Taunt. Although it can't explode or offensively pressure the opponent in the same way that Garchomp or Azelf can, it can also potentially set up Tailwind for the team before being knocked out.

 

[Kurona]

Lum Berry Gyarados is indeed a thing. Kurona the Darmanitan mention needs to explain that it's not only bad for the reasons you stated but bad because it gets worn down so quickly on top of Flare Blitz recoil, its terrible defensive stats, along with the mention of SR weaknesses while the other Fire types don't have all of these issues all in one package.

Will do.

I'd possibly take this one off the list. Focus Sash Aerodactyl has a niche as a suicide lead on hyper offense, as it's the fastest setter of Stealth Rocks in OU and can shut down opposing slower Stealth Rock leads with Taunt. Although it can't explode or offensively pressure the opponent in the same way that Garchomp or Azelf can, it can also potentially set up Tailwind for the team before being knocked out.

I'm kind of going off the viability list. This was very valid in Gen 4 and in current UU, but these days it just can't keep up with the metagame. I guess if you wanna nominate it for D for these reasons I'll remove it.

 

[Kurona]

These see more use on the ladder than Aggron, Absol, Ampharos and Houndoom.

Don't use these:

Why they're bad:
Just a little note beforehand; I'm covering both of these because, in fact, half of Abomasnow's usage isn't even in it's Mega forms. In addition while the two do perform different roles and different things outclass them, I feel I should do both of them in the same post because two Abomasnow don't use this posts one after the other is a bit cluttery.
Now, onto they actual analysis.
Base Abomasnow is, frankly, extremely weak and a constant dead weight to your team, offering no offensive or defensive presence -- heck, none of it's stats go over 92. The only reason this could use is because, yes, it's the only Hail setter in the game, but unfortunately Hail is not a viable playstyle. Even Sun, another unviable playstyle at least has some Pokémon which benefit from it, but absolutely nothing benefits from Hail other than the user for spammable blizzards, which Abomasnow can't even pull off due to it's awful offences, defences and speed. Ice Body, Snow Cloak and Forecast are the only abilities that benefit from hail, and all are bad for a different reason - Ice Body is useless as it's just a secondary leftovers, and the only Pokémon that get it have the awful defensive typing of Ice attached to them. Snow Cloak increases accuracy only and hence is unreliable, and Castform... Castform just sucks.
Mega Abomasnow is of course an improvement and in fact was borderline on whether it was considered viable or not back in XY, but ORAS completely shut that possibility off. It does have passable 90/105/105 bulk, but unfortunately combined with it's new speed which is literally on par with Slowbro, this is not enough to save it from it's extremely common weaknesses in Flying, Fire, Fighting, Steel etc. The only possible use for Abomasnow is on a trick room team, but unfortunately this doesn't make it viable either because it wastes your Mega Slot when there are better Megas to put on there, while Abomasnow only really has the gimmick of a spammable blizzard that is easily blocked, not to mention it has generally weak offences and STAB for a Trick Room Mega and has no abilities to make those offences better, and even then it is also easily taken care of by priority such as Mach Punch, Birdspam and E-speed.

Use these instead:

Why they're better:
First off, Base Abomasnow. The Pokémon of point here are Politoed, Hippowdon and Tyranitar. Simply put, Rain and Sand are the only viable weathers in this metagame. They have a lot of Pokémon including but not limited to Kabutops, Mega Swampert, Kingdra, Excadrill and Mega Garchomp to make use of them, all of which are effective and have abilities which boost offensive capabilities or speed. In addition, these three Pokémon are not dead weight to the team -- aside from setting weather, they are very competent Pokémon in and of themselves with fantastic offensive and support options. This is something Abomasnow could only dream of, as even if there were some very good Pokémon and abilities to take advantage of Hail, Abomasnow would still be dead weight to the team because it is so slow, weak and frail it couldn't do anything other than set weather.
Second off, Mega Abomasnow. I specifically picked Ampharos and Camerupt here because they were the only Trick Room Megas I could think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are also a lot more examples. Quite frankly, these do everything Abomasnow wishes it could do. They have extremely high Special Attack - 165 and 145 respectively - that let them fire off their high base power attacks. They also have fantastic offensive typing in Electric/Dragon and Fire/Ground which deal with a lot of different threats, whereas Grass/Ice is a generally weak offensive typing that only benefits from beating Dragon Types with Blizzard spam. Ampharos and Camerupt also have comparable if not better bulk than Abomasnow and have much better defensive typings to complement that. Finally, they have much more useful abilities. Camerupt gets Sheer Force for a free Life Orb on almost all it's usable attacks while Ampharos' Mold Breaker lets it break through defensive abilities with both offensive and support moves. If you have to pick a trick room mega, pick one of these two.
Two other very notable mentions are Weavile and Mamoswine -- simply put, if you're using Mega Abomasnow for an offensive ice type, you're better off with these two. They're more powerful, they're faster, they don't use up the mega slot and they both hold Ice Shards and far better secondary STAB of Dark and Ground respectively than Grass. There's very little to elaborate upon here simply because looking purely at typings, stats and movepools it's incredibly easy to see just how these two outclass offensive Abomasnow.

 

[DoABarrelRoll]

These see more use on the ladder than Aggron, Absol, Ampharos and Houndoom.

Don't use these:

Mega Abomasnow is of course an improvement and in fact was borderline on whether it was considered viable or not back in XY, but ORAS completely shut that possibility off. It does have passable 90/105/105 bulk, but unfortunately combined with it's new speed which is literally on par with Slowbro, this is not enough to save it from it's extremely common weaknesses in Flying, Fire, Fighting, Steel etc. The only possible use for Abomasnow is on a trick room team, but unfortunately this doesn't make it viable either because it wastes your Mega Slot when there are better Megas to put on there, while Abomasnow only really has the gimmick of a spammable blizzard that is easily blocked, not to mention it has generally weak offences and STAB for a Trick Room Mega and has no abilities to make those offences better, and even then it is also easily taken care of by priority such as Mach Punch, Birdspam and E-speed.

Use these instead:

Why they're better:
Second off, Mega Abomasnow. I specifically picked Ampharos and Camerupt here because they were the only Trick Room Megas I could think of off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are also a lot more examples. Quite frankly, these do everything Abomasnow wishes it could do. They have extremely high Special Attack - 165 and 145 respectively - that let them fire off their high base power attacks. They also have fantastic offensive typing in Electric/Dragon and Fire/Ground which deal with a lot of different threats, whereas Grass/Ice is a generally weak offensive typing that only benefits from beating Dragon Types with Blizzard spam. Ampharos and Camerupt also have comparable if not better bulk than Abomasnow and have much better defensive typings to complement that. Finally, they have much more useful abilities. Camerupt gets Sheer Force for a free Life Orb on almost all it's usable attacks while Ampharos' Mold Breaker lets it break through defensive abilities with both offensive and support moves. If you have to pick a trick room mega, pick one of these two.

Abomasnow actually has a few advantages over Camerupt and Ampharos, mainly the fact that he can be useful outside TR. He has priority in Ice Shard to KO Lando (-T) and Lati@s and can kill Rotom-W much more reliably. Also, Abomasnow can go mixed, which means Chansey fails to beat him as she's 2HKOed after SR by Wood Hammer. And, really, you can just use HP Fire if you're afraid of your Blizzard getting blocked.

 

[Kurona]

Abomasnow actually has a few advantages over Camerupt and Ampharos, mainly the fact that he can be useful outside TR. He has priority in Ice Shard to KO Lando (-T) and Lati@s and can kill Rotom-W much more reliably. Also, Abomasnow can go mixed, which means Chansey fails to beat him as she's 2HKOed after SR by Wood Hammer. And, really, you can just use HP Fire if you're afraid of your Blizzard getting blocked.

The opportunity cost of using Mega Abomasnow for those incredibly niche and situational roles is far too high. I would much rather have something more consistent on my team and the viability rankings reflect that. The mixed set is redundant and outclassed in OU and the other roles you have stated are in fact arguably covered by Weavile to a far more effective extent.

 

[Steel With It]

The mixed set is redundant and outclassed in OU and the other roles you have stated are in fact arguably covered by Weavile to a far more effective extent.

Don't forget Mamoswine. Actually, you could probably just add both Mamo and Weavile to the "Use these" list with a note about their superior Ice Shards.

 

[Kurona]

Don't forget Mamoswine. Actually, you could probably just add both Mamo and Weavile to the "Use these" list with a note about their superior Ice Shards.

Good point and I'll consider this; but I'm not 100% sure -- I'd like to get Aragorn the King 's opinion on it first.

 

[pretty little liAr]

Oh boy this is gonna be a long one.
Don't use these:

Why they're bad:
Quite simply put, every single one of these Pokémon have found themselves either extremely outclassed or even just generally ineffective with no niche. Even with Sucker Punch, Absol is far too slow and frail to do anything. Aerodactyl has great speed so you would think it would be a good lead, but it's low attack and defences means it can't muscle past magic bouncers and hazard controllers in general, nor can it survive any attack from an offensive lead. Aggron is a terrible defensive Pokémon due to it's low special defence and extremely large pool of weaknesses, including two 4X weaknesses to very common types which compromises it's very good defence. It's Head Smash Rock Head set isn't good either because it's so slow and even set-up it's weak to priority and is in general just a simple gimmick that is soon to be outdone by Tyrantrum anyway. There are better bulky waters and rapid spinners out there than Blastoise. Houndoom is too slow and too weak to be used over any other special attacking fire or dark type, and is too frail to set up.

Use these instead:

Why they're better:
There's a reason fans of these Pokémon got hyped when they got Megas. While most of these have niche uses, they're all still useful in OU to a certain extent. You can check out their analyses for more detail, but so as to not clutter this section, Mega Absol becomes a fantastic mixed attacker with a speed tier that beats the 110 benchmark and can also force switches to use a unique SD + Play Rough set that beats many would-be counters, Mega Aerodactyl is extremely antimeta due to sporting the best unboosted speed in the game, allowing it to revenge kill, work as a lead with offensive pressure, etc. Mega Aggron is unique as physical wall due to having few weaknesses coupled with Filter, stupidly good physical defence and decent HP/Special Defence, and some offensive pressure. Mega Blastoise becomes a rapid spinner with great bulk that can beat any spinblocker. And Mega Houndoom can singlehandedly dismantle stall thanks to being able to set up Nasty Plot on a variety of common stall 'mon like Mega Sableye.



There are other OU-viable Megas whose base forms are also used, but they end up between 0-2% so they're not worth mentioning. These five as well as Swampert who I previously covered are the only ones who see a significant amount of usage as shown by my printscreens, and the fact they're used without their mega stones is something I feel needed to be highlighted.

Don't forget about Charizard, Venusaur, Gallade and Metagross.

 

[Kurona]

Don't forget about Charizard, Venusaur, Gallade and Metagross.

I only included the non-mega pokemon that are only good with their mega that had significant usage. Looking at the December stats, there are surprisingly few non-mega Charizards and the others have insignificant usage (Metagross comes the closest at just under 7% non-mega usage, but it's understandable due to it's non-mega being on the viability rankings for a while and the fact December takes into account pre-ORAS meta too). If I included all non-mega pokemon only viable with their mega stone it'd be a massive clusterfuck lol

 

[Kurona]

Added mentions of Weavile and Mamoswine Aragorn the King

 

[Froggyboy]

Don't use this:

Mega Banette on paper seems like a very appealing Pokemon, with a massive attack stat of 165 and Prankster Will-O-Wisp and Destiny Bond. However, it falls flat on its face when in practice. It is pretty frail, has massive 4MSS, has no reliable recovery, and a psychical ghost is almost never good, with Shadow Claw being your only option. Also, Banette doesn't have Prankster before mega evolving, so this can really bite you in the bum when you need an immediate Will-O or Destiny Bond. Plus, there are better options for a Prankster Pokemon.

Instead, use these:

Sableye is a much better option for a Prankster Pokemon, with almost every move Mega Banette gets and more. It has a better typing, reliable recovery, and it has a better mega evolution, giving it more bulk and allowing it to create mindgames with the opponent. Sure, Banette has Destiny Bond and Thunder Wave, but Thundurus is a better T-Wave spammer, and needing to rely on fainting to have some use is pretty bad tbh.

 

[boxofkangaroos]

Don't use this:

Mega Banette on paper seems like a very appealing Pokemon, with a massive attack stat of 165 and Prankster Will-O-Wisp and Destiny Bond. However, it falls flat on its face when in practice. It is pretty frail, has massive 4MSS, has no reliable recovery, and a psychical ghost is almost never good, with Shadow Claw being your only option. Plus, there are better options for a Prankster Pokemon.

Instead, use these:

Sableye is a much better option for a Prankster Pokemon, with almost every move Mega Banette gets and more. It has a better typing, reliable recovery, and it has a better mega evolution, giving it more bulk and allowing it to create mindgames with the opponent. Sure, Banette has Destiny Bond and Thunder Wave, but Thundurus is a better T-Wave spammer, and needing to rely on fainting to have some use is pretty bad tbh.

You should also mention how Banette needs to wait a turn for Prankster to activate.