Metagame Prediction Thread

[DCM]

I figured it wouldn't hurt to have one of these, as we each experience the new generation of pokemon and work out more competitive teams.

Thinking realistically, Scizor is going to stay huge. But I'm thinking Toxicroak is going to stay high in usage, especially with fairy types new weakenesses. At least for the first few weeks.

 

[Norzan]

In my opinion i doubt Fairies are going to stop the Dragons, more specifically the pseudo dragons, since most of the fairy types pokemon seem to have mediocre stats with the exceptions of Sylveon, Togekiss, Azumarill and Gardevoir. But the use of Outrage is certainly going to go down by a lot.

 

[jamis]

Get ready for Aegislash in OU.

 

[SharKing]

I'd imagine that even without items, some Mega Evos might prove way too strong for OU. Mega Gengar certainly seems like a top candidate to be banned, what with Shadow Tag and, by Smogon's estimations, base 170 Sp. Attack and base 130 Speed. The Ground weakness hurts it a bit, but it's still ridiculously strong.

 

[Amoebo]

I'd imagine that even without items, some Mega Evos might prove way too strong for OU. Mega Gengar certainly seems like a top candidate to be banned, what with Shadow Tag and, by Smogon's estimations, base 170 Sp. Attack and base 130 Speed. The Ground weakness hurts it a bit, but it's still ridiculously strong.

actually mega ampharos my be banned as well because it may be able to set up the new thunder weather, so it becomes a big threat

 

[winstein]

Serebii currently have some close-to-accurate estimates of the Pokemon's base stats: Pokémon X & Pokémon Y - New Pokémon

Interesting highlights:
- Greninja has a similar spread to Sceptile. Its Speed allows it to outspeed Tornadus-T. In fact, it is a great Spikes user precisely because it can set them up very fast, and Starmie is threatened by it due to its Speed advantage. Protean allows it to change type quickly as well.
- Diggersby may be weak, but not if it has Huge Power! Swords Dance is an option, so that'll make it even more powerful. It's not particularly fast, so Quick Attack works to your advantage here. The Ground STAB grants extra coverage, so that will work to your advantage.
- While Pyroar's stats lean towards Special attacking, it gets Moxie, making it the first Special attacker with this. Probably not much point with this, but if you have enough boosts, you could switch to Attack on certain threats if you need.
- Florges is huge on Special Defence. Would be great as a Doubles supporter, as long as you could avoid Physical attacks or neuter them (with Intimidate, preferably).
- Gogoat has decent mixed offences. Its movepool leans more to Physical attacking anyway, with Earthquake and Bulk Up. It even gets Milk Drink (yes, really) so you could use a set up/recover set.
- Pangoro is as fast as Scrafty (both have the same type combo), but Pancham is slightly slower than Scraggy.
- Furfrou is relatively fast. Fur Coat's extra Defence will give it more resilience due to its relatively low initial Defence (60).
- Meowstic is a bit slower than Liepard. I guess this means Liepard has the advantage over them, type- and speed-wise. By the way, the male gets Prankster, while the female gets Competitive.
- Aegislash is really bulky/powerful! Of course, smart move management is key to make use of both.
- Aromatisse looks to be a Special set up user.
- Barbaracle has decent stats to be a Shell Smasher. Its coverage looks to be similar to Kabutops, having to rely on Water and Rock coverage for the most part (plus Earthquake, a move Kabutops lack).
- Dragalge is Special Defensive. Not a bad type to have great Special Defence, but I expected it to be a Special attacker. Also, Dragalge seems to lack Ice coverage, though Poison is still good.
- Heliolisk has Special sweeper stats. Would work well in either Sun or Rain, or Sandstorm even, with the right ability.
- Aurorus has somewhat good defences, probably to make up for its defensive type, I guess. Still, it's a second Snow Warning Pokemon, so that's good!
- Hawlucha is extremely fast, but it will probably need to resort to an Attack+ nature due to its decent Attack.
- Goodra is confirmed to be the pseudo-legendary. Physical attacks are practically a requirement to deal with it.
- Gourgeist's stats mean that its Super-size might be the most used, although its smaller forms have their uses.
- Trevenant could be a good attacker, although low Speed is a bummer. I could see it serving a similar role as Golurk: decently bulky attacker with a tinge of supportive abilities. Still, Trevenant's abilities (Harvest and Natural Cure) are key to using it.
- Avalugg is Cryogonal's opposite, with good HP, great Attack and extremely high Defence, but everything else is low. I compared it to Cryogonal because it has Rapid Spin and Recover too.
- Noivern set the benchmark as the fastest Dragon. Could see some use in the higher tiers because of that.
- Zygarde has a BST of only 600, compared to Xerneas and Yveltal's 670. Seems to be a hint that it is not the final form, much like Kyurem isn't the final form until its fusion.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Karpi]

Furfrou can effectively have a 480 defense stat (base 220, I think) because of its ability. I don't know if that will be useful or not, since so far its only defensive strategy seems to be Toxic stalling.

Assault Vest is a fucking awesome item. (1.5x sp def at the cost of self-inflicting taunt)... I'm going to give this to my Sassy Tyranitar, so he can take hits from the really scary Gengar and finally actually counter Starmie.

I'm excited to try Mega Aggron with a phazing set. I think it's going to be able to take all kinds of hits, and Mega Aggron might be a good answer to Mega pokemon. But maybe he's still not bulky enough. We'll see, I guess.

I'm also (like literally every other person) going to try out Sticky Web Galvantula for a while, so I can try to sweep with my Magnezone!

 

[Norzan]

Apparently Mega Aggron has a 230 base def stat, combine this with Filter and great defensive typing this thing it's going to be a true wall to physical sweepers.

Mega Alakazam has 175 Special Attack base stat and 150 Speed base stat, it's faster than Mewtwo. And who's gonna take a hit from Mega Alakazam?

 

[Karpi]

Apparently Mega Aggron has a 230 base def stat, combine this with Filter and great defensive typing this thing it's going to be a true wall to physical sweepers.

And don't forget they fixed sleep so we can use a Restalk set again! I'm so excited to use Mega Aggron

 

[Amoebo]

Apparently Mega Aggron has a 230 base def stat, combine this with Filter and great defensive typing this thing it's going to be a true wall to physical sweepers.

Mega Alakazam has 175 Special Attack base stat and 150 Speed base stat, it's faster than Mewtwo. And who's gonna take a hit from Mega Alakazam?

specially defensive florges, shuckle, aggron with 252 hp evs

 

[Youngster_Joey]

What's the updates on this? I kind of think Ghost types as a whole will be significantly buffed compared to previous games. I'm specifically thinking about Gengar, because steel no longer resists ghosts it could be much better than it was in the previous gen, having fewer options for counterplay other than switching to a pokemon with high sp.def stats. That's just my thoughts, though.

Also, what's the future for the weather wars? It's confirmed that all of the weather-starting abilities (sand stream, snow warning, drizzle, and drought) no longer last indefinitely, and instead for 5 turns. I really hope this change at least tames it a little, because it's so annoying to pigeon-hole my teams to address it.

 

[Norzan]

What's the updates on this? I kind of think Ghost types as a whole will be significantly buffed compared to previous games. I'm specifically thinking about Gengar, because steel no longer resists ghosts it could be much better than it was in the previous gen, having fewer options for counterplay other than switching to a pokemon with high sp.def stats. That's just my thoughts, though.

Also, what's the future for the weather wars? It's confirmed that all of the weather-starting abilities (sand stream, snow warning, drizzle, and drought) no longer last indefinitely, and instead for 5 turns. I really hope this change at least tames it a little, because it's so annoying to pigeon-hole my teams to address it.

And don't forget that Gengar is part Poison wich resists Fairy and it's SE against Fairy and because of this he's now a major threat.

 

[Winterdaze]

What do you guys think of Sticky Web? While I don't think it will be quite as pervasive as Stealth Rock, the fact it can completely cripple offence teams in one swift stroke is going to be significant.

The only thing holding it back is it forces you to run something like Smeargle or Galvantula, which while not dead weight, won't be contributing much else in the higher tiers.

If it does become widespread, that would certainly raise the stock of Defiant and Competitive Pokemon like Bisharp and Milotic. Bisharp in particular doesn't care about the speed drop since it has Sucker Punch, and being a Dark type that can handle Fairies and a Steel type that still resists Ghost could boost its popularity considerably.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

I think SW will be huge for bulky offense. Galvantula isn't a top-tier threat, but he's far from useless since his STAB wrecks every single Magic Bounce user and CompundEyes Thunder destroys spinners like Blastoise, Tentacruel, etc who might wish to switch in. It also 2HKOes Forretress, a common lead. With Sticky Web on the opponent's side of the field only, suddenly you're outrunning even their Scarfers and you dominate. With SW on both sides of the field, suddenly Fliers and Levitaters are speed demons. When Charizard, Salamence, Dragonite, Hydreigon, etc. switches in and can suddenly outspeed your whole team, you need to start running counters for them as their popularity will spike. The only thing I can see that might make SW less prevalent than SR was is the Defog buff, but Defog users a primarily Fliers, which Galvantula eats for breakfast. I think Gliscor will easily be the best Defogger once PokeBank opens, since he is immune to Galvantula's Thunder, can Defog, and then set up SRs again immediately after and can take Galvantula out with Stone Edge. He'll have to watch out for Galvantula's running HP Ice, though. Because Gliscor can Defog hazards away and walls non-HP Ice Galvantula, I think we'll see a lot of Galvantulas running U-Turn instead of Volt Switch so they can keep up momentum even against Gliscor. I think Greninja will be a popular Volt-Turn (or Turn-Turn) core with Galvantula, though, as it can set up Spikes and takes out Gliscor with Hydro Pump or Surf.

 

[Youngster_Joey]

So I'm trying out the Gen6 Meta through Pokemon Online. While it's still in alpha and filled with many bugs, I can kind of see where the metagame is heading.

For starters, the Fairy type isn't as dominating as I initially thought. There are like... Only 3 good pokemon to utilize it, Sylveon, Mega Mawile, and Florges (Klefki, while kind of popular, is a gimmick Pokemon at best), and only one of them (Mega Mawile) is a good offensive threat, and instead better specialized for support/defense. The rest of them were bestowed terrible base stats, and in addition to most fairy type moves being exclusive. It DOES better balance Dragons, though, as there is a lot more risk to running moves like outrage, so it's not so easy to just completely sweep a team with one Dragon. So... It kind of succeeded?

By contrast, Mega Evolutions are really shaking things up. Mega Lucario, Gengar, Mawile, Charizard, Alakazam, and Blaziken are particularly common and threatening at this point. I also see some future with Mega Aggron,Venusaur, and Absol as well. Similar to Gen 5, plenty of old threats are becoming new ones thanks to Mega Evolution.

As far as notable Gen6 pokemon are concerened, here is a list:

Aegislash - Arguably the best pokemon introduced in this gen. It has ridiculous offense and defense stats depending on its form. Let it set up with Swords Dance and it will trash entire teams. It's ability is also fun to use and allows options for both defensive and aggressive play. One of my favorites from this game.

Greninja - Great base speed and decent offense stats make it a good special sweeper, or even a scout. I've also seen a physical set do well with this thing.

Talonflame - I don't know if its just a fad right now, considering it has many exploitable weaknesses, but this guy is getting a lot of use during these testing phases and he's actually pretty darn good, especially for a pokemon you can aquire early game.

Florges - Seems to be getting attention due to its typing and high spDef. In my opinion it doesn't really replace Jellicent or Blissey in that role, but not a bad option if your team needs it.

Clawitzer - Getting some attention due to its access to Shell Smash and that it's probably one of your best bets for dealing with Aegislash.

Noivern - Fabulous, speedy special sweeper with a good coverage movepool. I think you can viably run a life orb set with him or go down my insane route of making him Choice Scarfed scout. Don't overlook Boomburst because it's a normal type move, it hits hard.

Other pokemon that I think have some potential to shine as well:

Chesnaught - I haven't seen a grass-type starter this deliciously tanky and awesome since Venusaur. It has great stalling options with Spike Sheild, though I also recommend a substitute/bulk-up set with Horn Leech. His low spDef and 4x weakness to flying does make him a little risky (Talonflame eats it for breakfast), but I see him shining at least in the UU tier.

Gourgeist - His XL form has the best defensive stats. Not a common sight at all, but seems to do well on stall-oriented teams.

Goodra - Don't really know what to think of this thing, it's certainly no Dragonite. It seems very well optimized for weather teams, though, and I'm sure it will get more use once people figure out how to play it.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Clawitzer doesn't get Shell Smash and Chesnaught doesn't get Horn Leech (or Drain Punch, as far as I know). Are you thinking of Barbaracle and Gogoat?

 

[Youngster_Joey]

Clawitzer doesn't get Shell Smash and Chesnaught doesn't get Horn Leech (or Drain Punch, as far as I know). Are you thinking of Barbaracle and Gogoat?

Possbily a bug, or abuse of some unreleased capabilities within P.O., because I've definitely seen them.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Weird. I can confirm that Clawitzer doesn't get Shell Smash as an egg move, but I do remember Serebii accidentally putting Shell Smash on it's move pool where Aqua Jet was supposed to go, but he's fixed it by now. Maybe somebody saw that and got confused? And Chesnaught just doesn't get Horn Leech, period. I wish it did, though. I started with chespin and every time it leveled up I'd cross my fingers for Drain Punch, but alas, no. It's a level 89 Chesnaught now and no Drain Punch. Not by breeding, either.

 

[Pumpkaboo]

Malamar looks pretty interesting to me. Contrary plus Superpower looks like it could turn Malamar into a threat. Foul Play also looks like it could take out any physical threats that aren't resistant to Dark attacks. And if they are, then Topsy-Turvy could throw them (and anything that uses a Stat Boost skill) for a spin by turning any Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, Calm Mind, etc. into a stat reduction for the target. Build it with a little bit of bulk and it could become a threat in any match.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Malamar looks pretty interesting to me. Contrary plus Superpower looks like it could turn Malamar into a threat. Foul Play also looks like it could take out any physical threats that aren't resistant to Dark attacks. And if they are, then Topsy-Turvy could throw them (and anything that uses a Stat Boost skill) for a spin by turning any Swords Dance, Dragon Dance, Calm Mind, etc. into a stat reduction for the target. Build it with a little bit of bulk and it could become a threat in any match.

I run a 248 HP/248 Atk/8 Def (Level 50 for Wi-Fi means 8 EVs per stat point instead of 4) Assault Vest Malamar with Superpower, Night Slash, Psycho Cut, and Rock Slide. Assault Vest gives usable Special Defense and Superpower is essentially both an amazing coverage move and Bulk Up in the same move, so boosting moves are unnecessary, making the Assault Vest worth it. After a Superpower or two, you have reasonable bulk on both sides of the spectrum and if the opponent is using Sticky Web you become a nearly unstoppable juggernaut as soon as you get near +3/+3/+0/+1/+1.