The Top 10 Titans of the 5th Gen NU Metagame [General Discussion]

Blast

Blast

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Emboar

Because it smashed everything in sight right off the bat, rather than setting up and then smashing everything in sight.
 
Lasagne

Lasagne

Absol - 12
Emboar - 12

Since it's a tie, I'll be adding my own vote, which is Emboar.
Emboar is the 7th most influential BW NU pokemon!

Thanks to Swamp-Rocket for the Emboar nomination!

What effect did Emboar have on the metagame?

When NU was dominated by a slew of strong physical attackers that could break through everything by simply equipping a Choice Band, Emboar was amongst the most dangerous of these Pokemon. Equipped with this item, a set of Flare Blitz, Superpower, Wild Charge, and Head Smash was so strong that only a few viable Pokemon could switch in and avoid getting OHKOed by the proper move after Stealth Rock. However, Emboar was possibly the most dangerous offensively out of them all, having not one, but two 120 base power STAB moves that could punish pretty much anything that dare took it on, and when I say "punish" I mean "2HKO every Pokémon in NU and potentially OHKO all but about a dozen of them after Stealth Rock with the correct move."

So what could you do with the threat of a Pokémon that could do this? Well, if you wanted to run stall, you were almost required to run Alomomola, one of the few defensive checks to Choice Band Emboar, otherwise you could easily get steamrolled by it. There was also a tactic of running a bunch of obscenely powerful Choice Banded Pokémon, such as Braviary and Sawk, alongside Emboar with the goal of making one of them eventually finish off the weakened defensive cores of the opponents team and compensate for potential mispredictions, something that fell out of the limelight after Emboar left. This completely destroyed a lot of defensive teams, and Emboar was the leading man in this demolition oftentimes.

Emboar also caused a lot of people to not even consider using any other Fire-types, other than when Magmortar was a thing, as it was far more optimal than Charizard, Rapidash and the like in most scenarios due to many factors, including a Stealth Rock neutrality, and was therefore used a lot more than other Pokémon of its type. Not really too important but worth mentioning.

In what main roles was Emboar used?

Its best and most common role was undoubtedly the Choice Band set. This set was arguably the Choice Band user that packed the sheerest power, as it utilized its high power moves, to break down anything that stood in its way. Fact: there is not a single Pokémon that didn't get potentially heavily dented by this set. Although recoil moves seemed like a huge pain for Emboar, its naturally high HP stat made it take the recoil damage better than many other Pokemon. Then of course, there was Blaze, which meant that Emboar could fire off one heck of a final blow with Flare Blitz that was strong enough to always OHKO defensive Garbodor, a fairly impressive feat.

The threat of a Choice Band, and the fact that Emboar has high mixed attacker sets, made it a strong mixed attacker as well. Fire Blast, HP Ice, and Grass Knot could easily catch a lot of Pokémon off guard, especially when it often utilized an Expert Belt in order to possibly bluff choice with a Superpower. A Substitute was useful here too, causing extra annoyance for walls and causing Emboar to have a buffer in case the opponent attempts to outpredict it. Although it didn't have as much raw power as a Choice Band set, it excelled as a wallbreaker, and could wear down multiple switch-ins to make way for a sweeper. Last-but-unfortunately-most-likely-least was the Scarf set. Emboar isn't really too fast, still not getting the jump on Swellow even with the item, but it did at least get to still outspeed Cinccino. This made it a good cleaner and revenge killer for most scenarios, as Fire is a generally safe move to clean with, especially since not even Amoonguss or Tangela could not stop its rampage if it was repeatedly using the move. Otherwise, there isn't really much to say about Scarf Emboar in this tier – its strong and it cleans, and it occasionally may annoy otherwise-faster Pokémon.

What caused it to have a significant impact?

The fact that it killed everything. :) But seriously this post is so long that I think you know why by now.

How did you deal with Emboar in NU?

There weren't very many ways to counter Emboar, considering Choice Band was a 2HKO on every Pokemon in NU except defensive Shelgon. While you could have used something as rare as that, Bulky Water-types generally did pretty well if they could avoid the Wild Charge – Alomomola stood out as probably the best, most conventional check to it, as even if it got hit by Wild Charge, it could switch out thanks to Regenerator. It did, however, fear the Mixed set a bit, because a Rash Grass Knot could potentially hurt it badly. Otherwise, you really didn't really have that many options defensively to check it, as if Emboar predicts correctly you probably lost a Pokémon. Luring it into using a move and then switching into something that resists whatever it used is usually the best idea if you need to get rid of it defensively.

Because Emboar isn't that fast and isn't the bulkiest thing out there, a far more effective way to deal with it was by using offensive pressure or revenge killing it. Of course, even a revenge killer will have to watch out for a Scarf set unless it has a Scarf of its own… or unless it is Swellow, who outspeeds all Emboars, including Scarf variants. Samurott has Aqua Jet and a STAB, as well as a higher base speed, making it a safe option for either role. Choice Band variants of Braviary, Sawk, or some other Pokémon that is really strong can provide enough offensive pressure to deter it from switching in. Really though, offensive teams have an easier time actually killing Emboar, but they can't switch in either. Mixed Emboar is a different beast that can possibly catch you off guard and screw over your walls. However, the good news is that Emboar is much easier to take on in an offensive perspective as it doesn't hit as hard, netting much fewer OHKOs. Walls, however, will crumble down if you don't expect because of its ability to hit hard on either side, so you needed to be very careful to keep them alive if there is something such as Swellow or Samurott threatening to sweep once these checks are removed.

Basically, if Emboar gets on the field safely, you're going to need to do some prediction if you want to survive, possibly prompting it into using recoil moves to wear it down (which is almost every move it has) or depending on the defense drops from Superpower. Although this may require a few switches that are risky, Emboar hits so hard otherwise that if you want to come out on top with no fewer team members than before, you have no other option due to its sheer power. tl;dr countering emboar was really hard
Click to expand...
We vote for #8 now; you can choose from:

Amoonguss / Absol / Cinccino
 
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