Ok. I don't think anyone talked about this before because this is new due to Gen 2 transfer thing. But now, there's a new cancer fun set if you want to use, which is parafusion Pidgeot.
Dragonite (Pidgeot) @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Zap Cannon
- Hurricane / Substitute
- Dynamic Punch
- Substitute / Roost
The bolded moves weren't legal in the same set before because it requires you to transfer through gen 2. This is probably more of a fun set than competitive but I can guarantee you this will be as annoying as Chatot sets if used correctly.
'Fun'
Anyway I personally find in the current meta two things kinda overwhelming, especially at a teambuilding level, and possibly suspect worthy.
1) Blacephalon
I originally thought that the banning of Shell Smash would be enough to make Blac not op, but I honestly can't say that I've found this to be the case. Between Specskoal/Scarfkoal, Nidothings, and Kecleon sets (and some others but imo those are the ones that provide the most trouble) its basically impossible to find a switchin to Blac which isn't Flash Fire (or Drizzle ig), which is really limiting. This combined with its good speed tier and ability to effectively run multiple items makes it very difficult to play against. I have personally found that running multiple forms of priority / chipping blac with things that can take one hit to put it into range of revenge killing has been most reliable way of playing against it.
The fact that the movepools of Flash Fire Pokemon aren't that good only adds to the difficulty of checking Blac. Arcanine, the best Flash Fire donor I M O, and certainly the best defensive one, can't touch Blac with common sets outside of Iron Head, and I have yet to see one running Crunch. More offensive inheritors will probably have ~the same amount of luck as other revenge killers, with the exception of being undoubtedly superior against choiced variants.
In defense of Blac, it's frail as all hell and easy to revenge kill with priority from stuff like Lopunny, Ttar, Pinsir, or Aqua jet users. However it resists or is immune to quite a few common priority types, including Normal, Fighting, Ice, Fairy, and Steel. EDIT: In all fairness however, once it's in and you know the set it's quite a bit easier to check, if not counter. The problem is you can just switch due to a lack of common pursuiters / entry hazards and get pivoted back in later to pick up another kill. It reminds me of Pheromosa tbh, except without the U-Turns.
I'm curious as to how others find Blac and how they have gone about checking it.
2) Magnet Pull
I should say this up front: I hate trapping abilities. Jsyk.
I'm a lot more conflicted about this than about Blac. I know that Shed Shell is an easy counter to Magnet Pull. However the fact that Magnet Pull is extremely common on the ladder has made it impractical to run anything other than Shed Shell on defensive steels (some exceptions apply, see Doublade). If you run say, lefties, you're leaving your team open to having that Pokemon removed and having something like Terrakion!Malamar or whatever you needed that steel to check sweep. Shed Shell is also not 100% reliable, because Knock Off exists. For example: your Celesteela checks their Terrakion!Malamar**. Cool. You switch it in because that's how you avoid getting swept*. They Knock Off as you switch in. You are now forced to either allow the Terrakion to chunk your team or risk losing your only check to it as they switch to their Magpuller, whatever it is. even if you have a pivot move (as commonly Steela do), if you're ever in at the same time as their Magpuller, your mon is dead, and you pretty much lose.
Sorry if that was a bit too hypothetical, but I feel that trapping important parts of defensive cores, combined with the good movepools of Golem-A and Probopass, is a bit too much. It tilts the prediction game way in favor of the mag pull user and the Pokemon isn't deadweight when there are no trappable steels, unlike in say OU where Magnezone is kinda trash otherwise. The fact that there are a variety of Mag Pullers denies you the opportunity to slap a move on your mon besides like Tarrows (which isn't on a good defensive donor) and be able to punish their switchins. MagPullers I've seen/used/heard of include Thundurus, Infernape, Landorus-Therian, Blacephalon, [13:25:22]
Halliday: Char-Y if you're being cheeky drampa afk, and Rotom-H. If you have other feel free to discuss them when talking about / refuting this post but imo at least those need to be considered.
I'm curious as to other people's opinions on this, because I haven't actually been running that many steels (Azzwola-Muk life) and a good amount of this is theorymon.
*please don't say don't switch it into Knock Off that's... also incredibly difficult not to do and puts you in a position to suddenly lose.
**I realized after typing this that choosing a fighting type wasn't the greatest example, but the specific sweeper isn't really that important to be honest. Something that Steels check that can run Knock Off.
BAN BLAC PRAISE BUGE