XY Sky Battles

[DontStealMyPenguin]

This is a pretty boring tier and it's way too easy to ladder.
Skarmory + charizard-x will probably get you to 2000 alone. Skarmory sets up rocks, and then gets KO'd. Charizard resists both of skarmory's weaknesses, so it is likely that charizard can set up on the pokemon that just killed skarmory and sweep the whole team.

Also, just try to make sure you have resists to rock, ice, and electric and also a deffogger is needed.

 

[adman2]

This is a pretty boring tier and it's way too easy to ladder.
Skarmory + charizard-x will probably get you to 2000 alone. Skarmory sets up rocks, and then gets KO'd. Charizard resists both of skarmory's weaknesses, so it is likely that charizard can set up on the pokemon that just killed skarmory and sweep the whole team.

Also, just try to make sure you have resists to rock, ice, and electric and also a deffogger is needed.

With Skarmory you often have to watch out for Taunters (i.e. pretty much every Aerodactyl).

 

[DontStealMyPenguin]

Yeah taunters and thunder wavers are a problem with that strategy. Which is why I run prankster thundurus with its own taunt and thunder wave. My rotom gets rid of aerodactyl after it's been taunted btw.

 

[aVocado]

I do agree it's too easy but it's not boring.. it's actually really intense, and kind of brought Pokemon back to the basics; whoever has the stronger, better Pokemon (or strategy) wins, even if that make it a bit centralizing.

That being said, holy fuck Zapdos is murder to my team. Zapdos coupled with Lando-T is just a guaranteed loss. God, this motherfucker's Thunderbolt hits like a fucking truck. Even Cryogonal can't do anything about it. Only bet I have of me killing it is to set up with Salamence on his HP Ice (my 'mence has a yache berry) and then kill it off with Stone Edge. Assuming it's not 252/252+ def Zapdos, it'll OHKO it.

 

[Spoderman]

I'm trying to build a team and I just want to know, is this meta more physical or more special?

 

[adman2]

I'm trying to build a team and I just want to know, is this meta more physical or more special?

Last time I checked, it was more special on the offensive front. Maybe that's because most teams have a physical wall of some kind, ESPECIALLY Skarmory. Gliscor is often used too, but it's offense stinks in a metagame where Earthquake is unusable. You should still watch out for Gyarados and Dragonite though. They can often sweep unprepared teams.

Special threats typically include Zapdos/Thundurus, the Rotoms, and the Lati@s. Mega Charizard Y is common even on non-Sun based teams.

 

[aVocado]

Zapdos and both Thundurus forms will rape your ass, be prepared.

 

[bluegrass]

This metagame is pretty dead, but I've started playing it and just kinda wanted to point something out.

Charizard X is completely broken.

After one dragon dance he completely wrecks the tier, and after two it's good game. The lack of earthquake stops pokemon like Gliscor from reliably taking him down. He has no counters, and his only checks are Aerodactyl, Talonflame, and Gyarados, who all struggle against him. Talonflame can't OHKO, so Charizard has to be injured beforehand, and Gyarados w/ Intimidate has trouble stopping him if he has already boosted once. After one boost Aerodactyl is outspeed and OHKOed by dragon claw, and Megadactyl is OHKOed as well. Also Megadactyl is slower on the turn he mega evolves, meaning that he unless he has already mega evolved he will lose. Players also don't have to choose Earthquake as a move, freeing up Roost, which means he has not only good bulk and a great typing, but reliable recovery as well.

 

[InMooseWeTrust]

Right now, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I won't play this metagame because it's way too broken on too many levels to be fun.

Look at Stealth Rocks, for example. Even after Pokémon Bank, Defog is a useless move (learned by a relatively small number of Pokémon) except to get rid of Stealth Rocks. Somebody in a previous post explained why Rapid Spin, Magic Bounce, and other counters are not useful either.

Things would probably also help if Electric, Ice, and Rock types were somehow nerfed so they didn't completely decimate almost everything in the metagame. Something like making all 4x weaknesses into 2x weaknesses will make the game more balanced.

And then there are the megas. Gyarados, Aerodactyl and XZard are way OP compared to everything else.

 

[TM13IceBeam]

Things would probably also help if Electric, Ice, and Rock types were somehow nerfed so they didn't completely decimate almost everything in the metagame. Something like making all 4x weaknesses into 2x weaknesses will make the game more balanced.

And then there are the megas. Gyarados, Aerodactyl and XZard are way OP compared to everything else.

Don't see a point in nerfing the type matchups: it is taken from the in-game rules after all. Salamence didn't take 2x damage in a sky battle ingame, it still takes 4x.

 

[InMooseWeTrust]

Either way, if you just ban rocks, I guarantee the metagame will become more popular.

 

[Pikachuun]

Either way, if you just ban rocks, I guarantee the metagame will become more popular.

That's a pretty big guarantee. Do you have any definitive proof, like a survey asking if every person whether they'd play Sky Battles or at least like it more with the SR ban than not? If you don't, I will never believe you, unless it legitimately happens. Don't forget to take into account the general influx of random people just hearing about the metagame and deciding to give it a try in your data.

 

[bluegrass]

Either way, if you just ban rocks, I guarantee the metagame will become more popular.

I think the fact that rocks are so important in Sky Battles make for a faster game. Having a majority of your team take 25% each time they switch in really hurts defensive teams, making it a more offensive metagame. Most people, especially lower tier players, like quick, fast paced matches. Imo, the problem is people try it once or twice, are really bad since it is brand new and different from OU, and then stop playing when it takes 5 minutes to find a match on their 3rd try at it.

 

[aVocado]

I think the fact that rocks are so important in Sky Battles make for a faster game. Having a majority of your team take 25% each time they switch in really hurts defensive teams, making it a more offensive metagame. Most people, especially lower tier players, like quick, fast paced matches. Imo, the problem is people try it once or twice, are really bad since it is brand new and different from OU, and then stop playing when it takes 5 minutes to find a match on their 3rd try at it.

The thing is, it's literally impossible to make a defensive/stallish team in the sky battles metagame, not with threats like ZardXY, Thundurus-I/-T, Salamence, Mega Aero/Gyarados, Zapdos etc around, especially considering the very limited amount of defensive pokemon at hand.

 

[bluegrass]

The thing is, it's literally impossible to make a defensive/stallish team in the sky battles metagame, not with threats like ZardXY, Thundurus-I/-T, Salamence, Mega Aero/Gyarados, Zapdos etc around, especially considering the very limited amount of defensive pokemon at hand.

Your absolutely right and that's exactly what I'm getting at. Two great walls, Zapdos and Madibuzz, both share a stealth rocks weakness, not to mention the fact the almost every pokemon carries Ice/Rock type moves. Skarmory is great, but loses to Charizard, Thundurus, and Zapdos. Rotom-W can't touch either Charizard, and is setup bait to any Gyarados that carries Taunt or Substitute. Latias loses to a lot of those pokemon you mentioned, and while Cresslia can wall the ones without boosting moves (that's assuming she has the right EVs), she can't really do anything back.

 

[Seven Lions]

Zard X is pretty fucking strong, in a sense where it's sheer power is broken. Now that there's no Heatran, it can opt for Roost making it such a pain in the ass to deal with. At +1 with rocks down, it's pretty much instaloss for the other player.

 

[Assertingfire3]

I just started playing sky battle yesterday and its really fun, but aerodactyl is freaking everywhere. Its just so useful all it really needs to do is taunt or set up hazard depending on the lead then spam stone edge since almost everything is weak to stone edge. I have won games by spamming stone edge until pp runs out. Aerodactyl is so fast and has a wonderful attack stat of 105 to spam stone edge! It can also mega evolve making it even better at spamming stone edge. Stone edge spam for the win!

 

[Assertingfire3]

What happened to my post? I'll just repost it. Wait i see it now.

 

[bluegrass]

Zard X is pretty fucking strong, in a sense where it's sheer power is broken. Now that there's no Heatran, it can opt for Roost making it such a pain in the ass to deal with. At +1 with rocks down, it's pretty much instaloss for the other player.

Yeah, the only thing that can stop it at +1 is an already mega evolved Mega Aerodactyl (I'm not sure, but I think they speed tie though) or a Dragonite with Multiscale intact. Gyarados w/ Intimidate can't really beat it, but it lets certain pokemon check it, but either way your down your probable sweeper (Gyarados) and whatever revenge killed it has lost a lot of health.

 

[dathan]

aerodactylite probably could use a ban i just sweeped two teams with aerodactyl alone without boosting. I would be disappointed if it did get banned because my team revolves around aero but it would make it more interesting

 

[aVocado]

There will probably be no bans, as the tier is already unbalanced as fuck, and if you go around banning everything then there would be nothing left, lol.

It's still fun though!

 

[Brosb4Ho-ohs]

i started playing this tier and i really like it so far :D
I really think agility articuno is very underrated, with rocks support it can decimate the whole tier.

 

[Phione]

I'm not a very good battler, so this probably won't be of much use, but could Haunter see some niche use in this tier? Great Special Attack and pretty good Speed, though pitiful defenses, and Destiny Bond could help it some.

 

[Brosb4Ho-ohs]

i dont think so b/c haunter is actually pretty slow in terms of sky battles, and doesn't hit alot of things really hard.

 

[fifaplayer]

Charizard Mega X is in sky battle?