Metagame Pokébilities

[Poor Exeggcution]

Lanturn is a great stall pokemon in this meta. You get free switch-ins with both Volt and Water Absorb, and if you run Aqua Ring, Protect and Substitute, you can stall out Drain Punch on Conkeldurr. You can also run some water STAB to help fight sand teams.

Focus Band Tentacruel is a workable counter for both Conkeldurr- switch in on a predicted drain punch to take it out, or OHKO an Excedrill lead with Hydro Pump.

Neither of those scenarios come up? Well, it has Toxic Spikes. Oh,

And it can spin

so there's that. With the general lack of ghosts in this meta, its basically a superior defog.

Also, Sky Attack Red Herb Hawlucha. Sky Attack is massively underutilized IMO- even if you don't outspeed for the 30% flinch chance, it is 130bp with a high crit ratio. I haven't exactly seen the wrestlecockrel have a serious case of Four Moveslot syndrome, so I definitely consider it the preferred way to get that Unburden boost.

 

[SovereignC2]

Lanturn is a great stall pokemon in this meta. You get free switch-ins with both Volt and Water Absorb, and if you run Aqua Ring, Protect and Substitute, you can stall out Drain Punch on Conkeldurr. You can also run some water STAB to help fight sand teams.

Focus Band Tentacruel is a workable counter for both Conkeldurr- switch in on a predicted drain punch to take it out, or OHKO an Excedrill lead with Hydro Pump.

Neither of those scenarios come up? Well, it has Toxic Spikes. Oh,

And it can spin

so there's that. With the general lack of ghosts in this meta, its basically a superior defog.

Also, Sky Attack Red Herb Hawlucha. Sky Attack is massively underutilized IMO- even if you don't outspeed for the 30% flinch chance, it is 130bp with a high crit ratio. I haven't exactly seen the wrestlecockrel have a serious case of Four Moveslot syndrome, so I definitely consider it the preferred way to get that Unburden boost.

Lanturn in a metagame where sand rush + sand force excadril is everwhere? .-.

 

[Scarf]

Lanturn in a metagame where sand rush + sand force excadril is everwhere? .-.

Losing to Excadrill doesn't automatically make lanturn an awful Pokemon. Just look at Clefable for instance. It's easily a S-tier mon, in my opinion, in this metagame but it can't handle exca whatsoever.

If you ask me Lanturn is bad for decidedly different reasons but that's besides the point

 

[Poor Exeggcution]

Lanturn in a metagame where sand rush + sand force excadril is everwhere? .-.

I never said it would beat Excedrill, but yes, actually. Stall is super important for dealing with Weather in my experience- you gotta eat up weather turns on non-setters, and EQ doesn't have all that much PP. Moreover, Lanturn can take Steel attacks like a champ- juggle it with a Flying-type pokemon.

I'd also advocate Offensive Air Balloon Lanturn if Sand is giving you so much trouble- The fish ain't fast, but its faster than Sand Setters. Even against Sturdy pokemon, that balloon means it'll take two hits for the average sandsetter to take you down. Lanturn's movepool is also pretty decent- you can take your free turn (from the balloon or sash) chance to reset the weather, or even surprise counter (and get a free heal) with Ion Deluge (+1 priority) against Sandy Stoutland return.

Lanturn probably won't sweep, but it can still threaten switch-ins and face other pokemon with aplomb.

 

[TheyCallMePM]

I never said it would beat Excedrill, but yes, actually. Stall is super important for dealing with Weather in my experience- you gotta eat up weather turns on non-setters, and EQ doesn't have all that much PP. Moreover, Lanturn can take Steel attacks like a champ- juggle it with a Flying-type pokemon.

I'd also advocate Offensive Air Balloon Lanturn if Sand is giving you so much trouble- The fish ain't fast, but its faster than Sand Setters. Even against Sturdy pokemon, that balloon means it'll take two hits for the average sandsetter to take you down. Lanturn's movepool is also pretty decent- you can take your free turn (from the balloon or sash) chance to reset the weather, or even surprise counter (and get a free heal) with Ion Deluge (+1 priority) against Sandy Stoutland return.

Lanturn probably won't sweep, but it can still threaten switch-ins and face other pokemon with aplomb.

The only issue with focus sash is that it doesn't actually counter sand or hail since the weather damage will knock it out.

I've been running a variation of its Choice Specs set to counter most sand teams, and it actually works pretty well

Lanturn @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Volt Switch

I know it looks kinda messed up when you first look at it, but there's a reason for that. Even with a timid nature, it does enough damage to have a high chance of getting a OHKO on Quagsire with HP Grass with no hazards on the ground, and a guaranteed OHKO with Stealth Rock up. It also gets a guaranteed OHKO on a Gliscor with max HP and SpD investment. By giving Lanturn 216 EVs invested into its speed plus a timid nature, it will always out-speed Quagsire as well as almost every Gliscor set you will encounter (unless someone invests more than 76 EVs into Gliscor's speed).

252 SpA Choice Specs Lanturn Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Quagsire: 388-460 (98.4 - 116.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Lanturn Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Quagsire: 388-460 (98.4 - 116.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Lanturn Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gliscor: 360-424 (101.6 - 119.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

And in the off chance that Lanturn doesn't get that OHKO on Quagsire, it has enough bulk to survive an Earthquake from bulky defensive Quagsire

0 Atk Quagsire Earthquake vs. 40 HP / 0 Def Lanturn: 290-344 (72.3 - 85.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

It also has Sclad instead of Hydro Pump to spread burns to all those annoying sand sweepers that might try to switch in on it such as Excadrill and Garchomp. While this may not be the best set for Lanturn, I find it works pretty well at countering a decent portion of the meta.

As for teammates, I find that Mandibuzz works fairly well with it as it resists grass and is immune to ground type attacks. It also gets a free 2 stage speed boost if it gets hit by a physical attack, which can pretty helpful to dealing with some of Lanturns counters

 

[pyuk]

Alright, time for some announcements.

First of all,

Should Ditto be copying all of the abilities of the impostered mon? It seems like it should, but it doesn't.

Spandan, the majority of the OM Room, and I, agreed that Transforming into another Pokemon should copy innate abilities, while also removing the transformed Pokemon's own innate abilities. The main server will hopefully be updated with this soon.

Secondly, we're aware of an issue where Pokemon are able to bypass the Baton Pass Clause if they have Speed Boost as an innate ability rather than their main one, as the Baton Pass Clause, being part of the team validator rather than a battle mod like the Sleep Clause, normally doesn't check for that sort of thing. Now, it seems to me, as well as Spandan and others, that fixing the clause is the easiest and most straightforward solution. However, The Immortal thinks that banning Baton Pass is a better solution than updating the BP clause to account for this meta's mechanics, so I suppose it comes down to either convincing him otherwise, or banning one of three things:

1. Baton Pass itself: This is the most simple solution if you don't believe in the BP Clause and preserving dry passing.
2. Speed Boost: This would hurt Yanmega and Sharpedo as collateral damage, but banning it would completely close the loophole in the BP Clause that this meta's mechanics create.
3. Scolipede: While Ninjask and Combusken are also capable of abusing the same loophole, Scolipede is the main abuser right now, and banning it could solve the problem while preserving both Baton Pass and Speed Boost for Pokemon that use one without the other.

We did hold a poll in the OM Room of what to do, and Baton Pass was the most highly voted of those three options as a candidate for banning, but this is a delicate issue, and warrants further discussion before we can come to a final decision.

Finally, expect a suspect within the next two days, but what exactly will be suspected is still in question. Right now, the number one candidate is Excadrill, but we're considering Ninetales-Alola, something else like Cinccino (apparently Skill Link + King's Rock is pretty awful to face, though I have yet to see one in action), or perhaps even the Baton Pass situation itself as alternatives.

 

[sin(pi)]

If you're going to consider suspecting Cincinno, just suspect King's Rock + Razor Fang[/claw?] - Cincinno itself is good, but by no means broken, and the strategy can be replicated on Cloyster and even Greninja (sure it's less good on these, but no less uncompetitive). Most metals where Skill Link is relevant have banned those two items and I think that's the way to go here, if anything

(Cincinno isn't really broken because it cannot touch steels at all and sorta struggles with fat ghosts; even with the ~50% power buff I highly doubt it's otherwise banworthy)

 

[Trolltest123]

Hey guys, I think there was a bug in my game. In Turn 14, Bronzong didn't have levitate and got hit by EQ by my Gliscor:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokbilities-511117450

 

[Ardy]

Gumshoos is absolutely insane here, with Adaptability Strong Jaw Hyper Fang dealing monstrous damage. And god forbid something switch.

Gumshoos @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Stakeout
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Hyper Fang
- Earthquake
- U-turn


The set Im using, with a Scarf because base 45 is terrible without that 1.5 boost, and even with a scarf you get outsped by anything above 310 speed. Regardless, when Gumshoos hits, it hits hard. You'll want to spam Hyper Fang 99 % of the time, the other moves are mainly just filler.


Apart from that, Choice Specs Yanmega is great, with Tinted Lens allowing it to pretty much spam Bug Buzz against anything, with Speed Boost making you faster with every turn.

Mienshao is underrated here too, as it no longer has to choose between killing everything with HJK or healing with U-Turn.

 

[NeoAquarius12]

I've been enjoying using Hitmontop in this meta. He is a mon I always come back to whenever I need someone who doesn't care about speed since he has every priority known to man.

Hitmontop@Life Orb
Abilities: Technician, Intimidate, and Steadfast
Adamant Nature
-Bullet Punch
-Mach Punch
-Fake Out
-Close Combat

Technician boosts Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, and Fakeout and all three have priority. Very nifty for picking up kills at end of game. Intimidate works well with Hitmontop's average defense and causes switches like crazy. Steadfast isn't too useful, but in case I need to start pulling out Close Combats, it's nice to have the speed boost there. I suppose you can try and add Bulk Up or Rapid Spin in there if you need to as well, and if I start losing, I just might add Bulk Up on over CC. I guess time will tell.

 

[AquaticPanic]

I was searching for an answer for Excadrill, and found out there's a Sand Rush user faster then it: Midday Lycanrock. I've been running this set to counter exca:


Lycanroc @ Life Orb/Focus Sash/Fightinium-Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brick Break
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Sadly no Earthquake for some reason, but Brick Break is still Super Effective, and has a 37% chance of OHKOing with Life Orb. All-Out Plumelling is a sure OHKO but then you can't use Z-Conversion PZ, and it's only one chance. Sash guarantees you live but you're easly revenge killed and the oponent will most likely switch Exca after seeing you have Brick Break. So not the best one.


Another one I use sometimes is Scarf Sandslash:


Sandslash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off


Sucks you have to be Scarf but it's more reliable then Lycanrock. Also, unlike the doggo, you have more then one non-situational ability. Sand Veil is anothe ability to work on sand and you may get lucky to the point of avoiding a few moves. And unlike Lycanrock, it has other uses then countering Excadrill as it's still a pretty great sand user and hits hard. Access to Poison Jab lets you hurt Clefable (Possible 2HKO if Specially Defensive) and the rest is the rest.

Another one that can help:


Not Fabulous (Dugtrio) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Well... It's a Dugtrio you always see, but Exca can't escape and gets OHKOd back. Heck you may even avoid with Sand Veil and preserve the sash. Or run Mus Slap Sand Veil

That aside, does anyone know something that reliably hits Clefable? Conk OHKOs it with Poison Jab if you have guts activated but that's about it. I thought about Merciless Toxapex so you ignore the Cosmic Powers but Tox is still very weak offensively and has to beware all the Sand Spam. Although it can 2hko max hp/max sp def even without sp atk investments using Venoshock. But other then that, anything?

 

[Mr155551]

get sucker punch instead of cc so that you can hit ghosts better especially those who resists bullet punch

 

[Inferno Gaming]

I was searching for an answer for Excadrill, and found out there's a Sand Rush user faster then it: Midday Lycanrock. I've been running this set to counter exca:


Lycanroc @ Life Orb/Focus Sash/Fightinium-Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brick Break
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch

Sadly no Earthquake for some reason, but Brick Break is still Super Effective, and has a 37% chance of OHKOing with Life Orb. All-Out Plumelling is a sure OHKO but then you can't use Z-Conversion PZ, and it's only one chance. Sash guarantees you live but you're easly revenge killed and the oponent will most likely switch Exca after seeing you have Brick Break. So not the best one.


Another one I use sometimes is Scarf Sandslash:


Sandslash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Poison Jab
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off


Sucks you have to be Scarf but it's more reliable then Lycanrock. Also, unlike the doggo, you have more then one non-situational ability. Sand Veil is anothe ability to work on sand and you may get lucky to the point of avoiding a few moves. And unlike Lycanrock, it has other uses then countering Excadrill as it's still a pretty great sand user and hits hard. Access to Poison Jab lets you hurt Clefable (Possible 2HKO if Specially Defensive) and the rest is the rest.

Another one that can help:


Not Fabulous (Dugtrio) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Hone Claws
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Well... It's a Dugtrio you always see, but Exca can't escape and gets OHKOd back. Heck you may even avoid with Sand Veil and preserve the sash. Or run Mus Slap Sand Veil

That aside, does anyone know something that reliably hits Clefable? Conk OHKOs it with Poison Jab if you have guts activated but that's about it. I thought about Merciless Toxapex so you ignore the Cosmic Powers but Tox is still very weak offensively and has to beware all the Sand Spam. Although it can 2hko max hp/max sp def even without sp atk investments using Venoshock. But other then that, anything?

This is the Ursaring set I use, works good for me.

Ursaring @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Facade
- Crunch
- Close Combat

It's an amazing stallbreaker, I'm very happy with it.

PS: Go Adamant if you need more firepower, but normally this hits very hard.

 

[cityscapes]

I've been using a Mega Aerodactyl set to decent success

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Fire Fang
- Stealth Rock

But honestly, I have to say that I don't like this meta very much. Every game is a weather war, and I tried running a Choice Specs Sunflora (Solar Power + Chlorophyll) with sun support. It did okay, but there's just so many counters to it. When the overlooked Pokémon that should benefit most from this OM just loses to everything, I don't think it's that fun.

 

[Scarf]

If you're looking for some reliable Excadrill checks, then here's a couple that I've used to great success:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 248 HP / 48 Atk / 212 Def
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Taunt
- Knock Off / Toxic

This is close to the standard BW spread + set for Gliscor, with some minor edits to help it fit in nicer in this meta. 48 Attack EVs is used deal 90% damage minimum with EQ to Excadrill, so it always OHKOs after Life Orb recoil. If it's Air Balloon, it'll be considerably weaker and thus additional Atk EVs aren't really needed as you tank 2 +0 hits (252 Atk Life Orb Sand Force Excadrill Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 212+ Def Gliscor: 144-172 (40.7 - 48.7%) -- 99.1% chance to 3HKO after Poison Heal) / 1 +2 hit from non-LO (+2 252+ Atk Sand Force Excadrill Iron Head vs. 244 HP / 216+ Def Gliscor: 243-286 (69 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal) comfortably. Additionally, if Sand is up, you have the ever-so trustworthy Sand Veil to dodge those Iron Heads so it's pretty much foolproof.

Dugtrio @ Choice Band / Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Toxic

Duggie, outside of Sand, can very easily trap and kill Exca (252 Atk Dugtrio Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 408-482 (113 - 133.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO) even with Sash. With CB it can trap and kill other threats such as defensive Clefable, OHKO Cinccino from full, and generally deal more damage but with Sash and it can 1v1 non-Balloon Exca within sand and even switch into Exca outside of sand and kill it. Again, it also has the reliable Sand Veil to dodge those moves so sometimes 100% of the time you don't even need to lose your sash.

With these checks I've had little trouble with Excadrill, which goes to show that it isn't so glaringly overpowered if you prepare for it.

 

[tommytt22]

Hey guys I'm new to this meta and I'm having a bit of trouble with conkeldurr. From what I've seen the best way to counter him would be physically defensive buzzwole, but i don't know how well that works in practise, given its lack of recovery (buzzwole gets roost, thank god) and the absence of ultra beasts due to them only having one ability. What do you guys think of a set like this?

Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Lunge / Leech Life
- Roost
- Hammer Arm / Superpower
- Earthquake

This is really just made up on the spot, with 24 speed to outspeed max base 50's with a neutral nature.

 

[Quantum Tesseract]

Hey guys I'm new to this meta and I'm having a bit of trouble with conkeldurr. From what I've seen the best way to counter him would be physically defensive buzzwole, but i don't know how well that works in practise, given its lack of recovery (buzzwole gets roost, thank god) and the absence of ultra beasts due to them only having one ability. What do you guys think of a set like this?

Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Lunge / Leech Life
- Roost
- Hammer Arm / Superpower
- Earthquake

This is really just made up on the spot, with 24 speed to outspeed max base 50's with a neutral nature.

Bulk up is better than leech life or lunge, superpower isn't that good, and you almost certainly want max hp max def. This is, however, something I have been meaning to bring up. Buzzwole is one of---if not the---best Excadrill counters, and also answers pokemon such as Cincinno, Conkeldurr, Landorus-T, Gigalith, and in a pinch can check ursaring. It's a really good stall pokemon.

 

[Mewtastic]

Ok, so I have a question, is the display just really glitchy, because it doesn't seem to take into account the other abilities(the ones you didn't choose in teambuilder)?

 

[Scarf]

Ok, so I have a question, is the display just really glitchy, because it doesn't seem to take into account the other abilities(the ones you didn't choose in teambuilder)?

The battle interface hasn't been changed to take the additional abilities into account in this OM, this is normal, but the abilities are all active. It's not a glitch.

 

[Mewtastic]

The battle interface hasn't been changed to take the additional abilities into account in this OM, this is normal, but the abilities are all active. It's not a glitch.

Ok, thanks. This metagame is a bit more fun so far compared to other ones.(although the problems that plague all OM's are still here)
I've been using flame orb luxray, and it can work pretty well if the genders are right. Also it hasn't had it's chance( very few games), but chlorophyll+solar power tropius seems fun. Also mienshao is a decent check to some of the threats people have talked about so far;it can U-turn out on reunicleus for decent damage, outspeeds and destroys P-z, and threatens a few sand-setters.(also excadrill cannot switch into it without fear of reckless life orb hi-jk, and it outspeeds it out of sand.) Not great against conkelldur, but can do decent damage.

 

[CabbageCabbage]

So how does Nidoking work?
Does Sheer Force stack with Rivalry? Because that would mean you could run LO + SF EQ.

 

[Elecktrochoko]

So how does Nidoking work?
Does Sheer Force stack with Rivalry? Because that would mean you could run LO + SF EQ.

No, it doesn't work like that.
If it's SF+LO Earth Power, then it works, not Earthquake.

 

[BlackYoshi485]

apparently Quick Feet and Guts can't be used at the same time, RIP Ursaring ._.

 

[freekhoorn]

In teambuilder it says magnezone is banned, but it isnt in pokebilities as you can use it. How is this happening?

 

[Scarf]

In teambuilder it says magnezone is banned, but it isnt in pokebilities as you can use it. How is this happening?

I'm not 100% sure but the teambuilder isn't updated / is straight-up wrong when it comes to team validity nowadays, it's not that big of a deal. I'd just ignore it. If something is truly illegal (like Mewtwo for instance) it would reject the team when you search for a battle.