Wow, thank you so much for the in-depth reply.- what are the biggest differences between NU and RU?
not a big NU player so i wouldn't know the exact details. i do know that unlike nu we have dragon types which are pretty influential (in fact one of them, tyrantrum, currently has a pretty large part of the community hoping it is re-suspect tested). mega steelix also makes a huge difference, as it + a bulky water is a really common core.
- What archetypes are the most popular right now?
what azelfie said above, BO and balance. stall is interesting, I haven't really seen it pulled off in a way that's is super impressive. hyper offense is pretty much dead because of Tyrantrum, tho there are ways like Mawile to get around it.
- How harshly is the tier centered around a handful of mon?
Its pretty centered around Mega Steelix, Tyrantrum, Alomomola, Virizion and Venusaur, I'd say these are the 4most influential mons atm.
**5 things I never learned numbers
- What do I definitely need to account for in teambuilding to get a good RU team?
This dope thread might be helpful (its a work in process, my apologies i have a life irl). I would say if you are going to go for BO/balance make sure you have:
-Steelix + bulky water breaker (Virizion, Meloetta, Slowking, etc)
-Fighting type check (we have a lot so gl covering them all)
-Psychic type check (see the fighting check part)
I suggesting building a team and heading to the lovely rarelyused room on pokemonshowdown and someone look at it for you! welcome to ru and good luck man!
Since balance and bulky offense are my favourite archetypes, I will give this tier a try.
Also shoutouts to the community, you guys have an amazing amount of helpful threads and this tier seems to be much easier to get into because of those than others.