Time for a bit of commentary on the Pokemon I used most often this round.
| 6 | Uxie | 6967 | 14.365% | 6334 | 15.822% |
Frankly I'm surprised Uxie isn't receiving twice the usage it sees, its easily the most versatile Stealth Rock setter and even the most versatile Pokemon in the tier. Almost every successful offensive team I've seen runs either Smeargle or reverts to Uxie, not to mention its reasonable sweeping potential with a CM set. The Uxie set I personally used was a Sunny Day supporter with Magic Coat to prevent obscene hazard laying against me, and it was very effective at bringing in my Sun sweepers through either U-Turn or Memento. The list of options Uxie has and the benefits it brings to a team are ridiculous, whether its Stealth Rock, Dual Screens, Memento, Uturn, Magic Coat, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Heal Bell, Rain Dance, Sunny Day and many others; Uxie needs to be considered for every team and quite possibly deserve the #2 spot in usage.
| 12 | Typhlosion | 5216 | 10.755% | 4257 | 10.633% |
I've already gone into detail about Typhlosion, all I'll say again is to not underestimate its strength simply based on poor ladderers using a Scarf set. All of its Fire moves have the ability to heavily damage you.
| 14 | Aggron | 5044 | 10.400% | 4041 | 10.094% |
I didn't use Aggron at all last month but its sparked my interest of late. SubPunch Aggron was once a dominant attacker, and with the departure of Cofagrigus and subsequent rise of Spiritomb as the main spinblocker I'm curious as to whether Aggron can rise again. Aggron of course abuses Spiritomb with a set of Substitute, Head Smash, Focus Punch and Earthquake/Heavy Slam, assuming Aggron can avoid a Will-O-Wisp on the switch. Seems like a potentially dangerous threat to rise again.
| 35 | Whimsicott | 3669 | 7.565% | 3130 | 7.818% |
By this point people have heard me defend Whimsicott well enough. It's not a good Pokemon necessarily, but it does have many niches it can fulfill on a team should they be required. The particular niche I used it to fill was as a pure sun supporter, with Taunt, U-turn, and Memento, and Whimsicott is unparalleled at guaranteeing set up with Memento and Taunt. The only Pokemon able to stop Whimsicott from setting up are Fire attackers including Magmortar, and Pokemon carrying Taunt that can also 2HKO Whimsicott. Few as they are, they would 2HKO as I Taunt. Naturally this isn't the only role Whimsi can fill, it has use as a general supporter or annoyer, and believe it or not despite the general mediocrity of the set SubSeed can be useful given the appropriate team to use it. Paired with several water and grass types that can pressure and KO grass-types, SubSeed Whimsi can in fact be effective. I would say Whimsicott is receiving an appropriate amount of usage.
| 78 | Regirock | 605 | 1.247% | 538 | 1.344% |
Frankly, Regirock is quite underrated in the current metagame. It is a 100% counter to Entei discounting its lack of recovery, and was key in SilentVerse's victory over me in the Ru Forum tour. I used Regirock as a-you guessed it-sun supporter, and it was quite effective at that role. Aside from its ability to set up Stealth Rocks being crucial for Victreebel and Emboar, Regirock is crucial as a counter to Entei, Absol and Zangoose, whose priority could otherwise do a number on my sweepers. Keeping in theme with the suicidal nature of my supporters, I ran Explosion on Regirock, which carried a fair bit of power behind it and prevented Regirock from being set up fodder.
| 86 | Emboar | 501 | 1.033% | 398 | 0.994% |
Dear lord Emboar deserves more usage. I used a Choice Scarf set but literally any of its sets I could have used and been equally impressed. Emboar can use a Choice Scarf, a Choice Band, a Flame Charge set or a Mixed set; but regardless of which set it uses its attaking prowess, excellent coverage and brilliant STABs mean that it will do a fuckton of damage to anything. Given that Emboar would usually have a Sun boost, I used Choice Scarf (which also allowed Emboar to check Absol). Given a Choice Band, very few things can take more than 1 or 2 attacks from Emboar, Sun or not. Emboar also forces switches making Flame Charge very dangerous, should you forgo coverage on Altaria and Flareon by dropping Head Smash. Emboar is incredibly underrated and in my humble opinion should be very close to the RU usage mark.
| 122 | Victreebel | 227 | 0.468% | 187 | 0.467% |
The. Fucking. Boss. You thought I was a fanboy before well watch out because Victreebel will rape your shit so hard you won't know what hit you before its face is around your skull.
Hyperbole aside Victreebel is hands down the best Sun sweeper I've ever seen. Given the lack of weather changers in RU, I ran a full special set with Solarbeam over a Mixed set, and when one runs calcs, Victreebel OHKOs almost every single Pokemon after Stealth Rocks and a Growth boost. iirc the only two Pokemon that arent OHKOd after rocks are Munchlax and SpDef Uxie. It's that powerful. Between Solarbeam, Sludge Bomb and Weather Ball, Victreebel has terrific coverage and triple STAB under Sun. Naturally switching in and Victreebel's lack of bulk make setting up difficult, which is where all my Memento spammers came in. Memento not only grants Victreebel that free switch in, but also cripples an opposing Pokemon allowing Victreebel to set up a Growth, for 6 turns of havoc to wreak. Victreebel's ability to take priority is also somewhat underrated. In my RU forum tour battle with bigblue, Victreebel took a Spiritomb Sucker Punch for 40% and followed that by taking a Kabutops Aqua Jet for 10% under the Sun, allowing it to easily KO half of Bigblue's team.
I think I've raved long enough, some thoughts on the usage stats, and the pokemon within.
| 6 | Uxie | 6967 | 14.365% | 6334 | 15.822% |
Frankly I'm surprised Uxie isn't receiving twice the usage it sees, its easily the most versatile Stealth Rock setter and even the most versatile Pokemon in the tier. Almost every successful offensive team I've seen runs either Smeargle or reverts to Uxie, not to mention its reasonable sweeping potential with a CM set. The Uxie set I personally used was a Sunny Day supporter with Magic Coat to prevent obscene hazard laying against me, and it was very effective at bringing in my Sun sweepers through either U-Turn or Memento. The list of options Uxie has and the benefits it brings to a team are ridiculous, whether its Stealth Rock, Dual Screens, Memento, Uturn, Magic Coat, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Heal Bell, Rain Dance, Sunny Day and many others; Uxie needs to be considered for every team and quite possibly deserve the #2 spot in usage.
| 12 | Typhlosion | 5216 | 10.755% | 4257 | 10.633% |
I've already gone into detail about Typhlosion, all I'll say again is to not underestimate its strength simply based on poor ladderers using a Scarf set. All of its Fire moves have the ability to heavily damage you.
| 14 | Aggron | 5044 | 10.400% | 4041 | 10.094% |
I didn't use Aggron at all last month but its sparked my interest of late. SubPunch Aggron was once a dominant attacker, and with the departure of Cofagrigus and subsequent rise of Spiritomb as the main spinblocker I'm curious as to whether Aggron can rise again. Aggron of course abuses Spiritomb with a set of Substitute, Head Smash, Focus Punch and Earthquake/Heavy Slam, assuming Aggron can avoid a Will-O-Wisp on the switch. Seems like a potentially dangerous threat to rise again.
| 35 | Whimsicott | 3669 | 7.565% | 3130 | 7.818% |
By this point people have heard me defend Whimsicott well enough. It's not a good Pokemon necessarily, but it does have many niches it can fulfill on a team should they be required. The particular niche I used it to fill was as a pure sun supporter, with Taunt, U-turn, and Memento, and Whimsicott is unparalleled at guaranteeing set up with Memento and Taunt. The only Pokemon able to stop Whimsicott from setting up are Fire attackers including Magmortar, and Pokemon carrying Taunt that can also 2HKO Whimsicott. Few as they are, they would 2HKO as I Taunt. Naturally this isn't the only role Whimsi can fill, it has use as a general supporter or annoyer, and believe it or not despite the general mediocrity of the set SubSeed can be useful given the appropriate team to use it. Paired with several water and grass types that can pressure and KO grass-types, SubSeed Whimsi can in fact be effective. I would say Whimsicott is receiving an appropriate amount of usage.
| 78 | Regirock | 605 | 1.247% | 538 | 1.344% |
Frankly, Regirock is quite underrated in the current metagame. It is a 100% counter to Entei discounting its lack of recovery, and was key in SilentVerse's victory over me in the Ru Forum tour. I used Regirock as a-you guessed it-sun supporter, and it was quite effective at that role. Aside from its ability to set up Stealth Rocks being crucial for Victreebel and Emboar, Regirock is crucial as a counter to Entei, Absol and Zangoose, whose priority could otherwise do a number on my sweepers. Keeping in theme with the suicidal nature of my supporters, I ran Explosion on Regirock, which carried a fair bit of power behind it and prevented Regirock from being set up fodder.
| 86 | Emboar | 501 | 1.033% | 398 | 0.994% |
Dear lord Emboar deserves more usage. I used a Choice Scarf set but literally any of its sets I could have used and been equally impressed. Emboar can use a Choice Scarf, a Choice Band, a Flame Charge set or a Mixed set; but regardless of which set it uses its attaking prowess, excellent coverage and brilliant STABs mean that it will do a fuckton of damage to anything. Given that Emboar would usually have a Sun boost, I used Choice Scarf (which also allowed Emboar to check Absol). Given a Choice Band, very few things can take more than 1 or 2 attacks from Emboar, Sun or not. Emboar also forces switches making Flame Charge very dangerous, should you forgo coverage on Altaria and Flareon by dropping Head Smash. Emboar is incredibly underrated and in my humble opinion should be very close to the RU usage mark.
| 122 | Victreebel | 227 | 0.468% | 187 | 0.467% |
The. Fucking. Boss. You thought I was a fanboy before well watch out because Victreebel will rape your shit so hard you won't know what hit you before its face is around your skull.
Hyperbole aside Victreebel is hands down the best Sun sweeper I've ever seen. Given the lack of weather changers in RU, I ran a full special set with Solarbeam over a Mixed set, and when one runs calcs, Victreebel OHKOs almost every single Pokemon after Stealth Rocks and a Growth boost. iirc the only two Pokemon that arent OHKOd after rocks are Munchlax and SpDef Uxie. It's that powerful. Between Solarbeam, Sludge Bomb and Weather Ball, Victreebel has terrific coverage and triple STAB under Sun. Naturally switching in and Victreebel's lack of bulk make setting up difficult, which is where all my Memento spammers came in. Memento not only grants Victreebel that free switch in, but also cripples an opposing Pokemon allowing Victreebel to set up a Growth, for 6 turns of havoc to wreak. Victreebel's ability to take priority is also somewhat underrated. In my RU forum tour battle with bigblue, Victreebel took a Spiritomb Sucker Punch for 40% and followed that by taking a Kabutops Aqua Jet for 10% under the Sun, allowing it to easily KO half of Bigblue's team.
I think I've raved long enough, some thoughts on the usage stats, and the pokemon within.
