Project ORAS OU Research Thread [Week 3: Discussion]

[heritage]

Approved by Aragorn the King
Run by me and Vertex

Thanks FookMi? c:

This kinda died out pretty quickly, a lack of player discussion made it hard to continue.

Welcome to the OU Research Thread for ORAS! This thread is aimed to find the potential of Pokemon and analyzing them. For each slate of Pokemon, we will have 2 stages: sign-up and ladder, then analysis stage. You have around a week to work through your chosen Pokemon, and then I will declare the analysis stage. After most people have posted what they believe about a Pokemon, then we will start a new slate! Just keep the following in mind:

• Be open-minded, don't just say something is terrible and walk away; look at its stats, movepool, and typing and think something up!
• Feel free to theorymon early in the research period, but make it clear you're doing so. Later in the period though, you will be expected to back up your posts with hard evidence like logs, actual sets, perhaps even teams.
• Just because an analysis has been done for a Pokemon doesn't mean there isn't more to explore; it's very likely that something has gone unnoticed.
• Do not post in this thread complaining about the Pokemon I choose and / or suggesting ones we should do for future weeks. Feel free to VM / PM me these suggestions, but don't expect me to always listen to you.
• Remember to use raw evidence during analysis stage, and don't tell us, show us!

A Hall of Fame has been implemented for quality posts, and post(s) will be chosen each slate!

This week's Pokemon!

Hydregion

Medicham (Mega)

Crawdaunt

How useful are these Pokemon in ORAS OU? What sets can they run effectively? What gives them trouble? What advantages do they have over other Pokemon? How well do they work in the metagame? If you have anything to say about any of these Pokemon, please sign up and during analysis period, discuss them! It doesn't matter if you've used them or have just faced them in battle, anything is fine (but please, do try them). Just be sure to back up your posts with good competitive reasoning.

Research Subject(s):
Ladder Account:

Have Fun!

You may discuss during sign-ups, but don't theorymon too much. Wait until analysis period to provide good information.

 

[Vert]

reserved for hall of fame

 

[AM]

Research Subject: More than likely Terrakion I use it a lot and people underrate it.
Ladder account: Requires too many cups of coffee and possibly alcohol. Laddering blows I'll just start a room tour or ask friends to test.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Research Subject(s): Hawlucha
Ladder Account: Lizzy Hale (Yes, I registered this. Deal with it.)

 

[Anduril]

Research Subject: Terrakion
Ladder Account: Anduril

 

[Tressed]

Research Subject: Mega Pidgeot
Ladder Account: (We'll see about this)

 

[DarkNostalgia]

Research Subject: Mega Pidgeot
Ladder Account: REKTREANT (i'll sometimes use my main DarkNostalgia account too)

 

[Analytic]

Research subject: M-Pidgeot
Ladder Alt: tbd

 

[ThePack]

Research Subject(s): Terrakion
Ladder Account: TBA

 

[jay]

Research Subject(s): Terrakion
Ladder Account: scald does ladder

 

[bludz]

Sign me up for Hawlucha
Ladder account to be determined

 

[heritage]

bludz scald ThePack Analytic DarkNostalgia Tressed Dr Ciel Anduril FookMi? AM

Hey guys, lots of people participating! Sign ups are closed, feel free to start discussion on the Pokemon that you researched.
Remember, people who have not signed up may join the discussion, but they can't start any more topics for other people to talk about.

 

[Analytic]

Alright so I'll start off with my research subject, M-Pidgeot.

What makes M-Pidgeot such a nice pokemon to use is it's access to No Guard and great STAB in Hurricane and Hyper Beam while having a decent movepool in U-Turn, Heat Wave, Work Up, Taunt and Roost allowing it to function as a fearsome wall/stall breaker coupled with its decent SpA and more than average speed tier allowing it to outspeed the likes of Starmie, Keldeo, Lati@s, M-Metagross, Raikou and most relevant threats in the tier.

Replays coming by tomorrow

 

[bludz]

Er yeah I don't have any replays but I played some games with my test subject - Hawlucha.

I ran the Sub SD Sitrus Unburden set so I'll be discussing that.

I find that in the current metagame its speed tier isn't quite what it once was with Torn-T, Alakazam and Weavile all running around. Of course, it outspeeds everything after the Unburden boost but it needs to set up. And I think that's what holds it back - without setting up it really isn't doing anything. Higher rank setup sweepers either hit hard off the bat like Zard X or find an easy time setting up due to typing/bulk/ability like Gyarados or Mega Altaria. Lucha has pretty much no power unboosted and its Acrobatics is also quite weak without utilizing its Sitrus Berry. To fully set up you pretty much need to be able to Sub and SD, which means you need a completely free turn where something either can't break your sub or is weak enough that you can let it proc your Sitrus Berry for you while you set up an SD. Basically it has a difficult time finding setup opportunities and isn't doing much else otherwise. Also powerful priority can stop a sweep short. On the bright side, after Hawlucha sets up it sweeps most offensive teams pretty handily outside of priority and has enough power with strong STABs and good typing to bust through a lot of balance mons.

I didn't play a whole ton of games, but it was kind of an all-or-nothing pokemon in the ones I did play. It did pretty much nothing in several games and I managed to sweep late game with it in the others. One of the best things it has going for it is that it isn't something that people account for in teambuilding; while they may end up having a check or a counter to it anyway, it's also possible that they are rather weak to it because it was not on their radar when constructing their team.

 

[Anduril]

I tested a couple of Terrakion sets mainly Band, Scarf, SD SubSalac, and Dual Dance. I'll start with the setup sets. Terrakion finds it hard to set up in this meta due to the prevalence of priority like Azumarill and Scizor, but Terrakion can just run past slower teams with a SD up, and Substitute is also nice to dodge priority as well as status. Dual Dance Terrakion is pretty good as well and plays similarly to SD SubSalac, but can be set up much easier , but if the opponent lacks it Terrakion puts in work. Band and Scarf were my two favorite sets due to their hit-and-run nature, which imo is totally the way Terrakion should be played at this time due to, as stated before, the priority. Band just breaks down balance, as CC and Stone Edge can put an insane amount of pressure on Slowbro, Clef, and Hippo. The shift to SpDef Skarmory is also great for Terrakion because it can break through it much easier. Scarf is a nice revenge killer that is useful against offense as well as being a good cleaner, and is great for dealing with Char-X, a great threat right now. Terrakion can also target specific pokemon due to the coverage of its STABs, which makes it somewhat unpredictable. Overall, I definitely think that Terrakion is decent in this metagame, but priority is a big thorn in its side. It struggles to find consistent setup opportunities, and this definitely hurts its effectiveness. However, Band and Scarf sets are pretty good, and that's what I would recommend using, at least based on my experience.

 

[Tressed]

So I've been playing with all out attacker Mega Pidgeot recently. What I've found is that it's pretty much inferior to Tornadus-T as a midgame presence. Torn's access to Knock Off, the staying power that Regenerator brings, the additional power that Life Orb provides, and the lack of need to Mega Evolve all make it a lot more effective throughout the early / midgame, where missing a Hurricane isn't quite as punishing. The only time that I find Pidgeot to be straight up better than Torn is during the late game, when things are properly weakened. Being able to always hit your Hurricanes is incredibly good at the end of the game, especially when everything is weakened and you just need to land your Hurricanes. In these sorts of situations, I've found Torn to actually be pretty bad. Having a 30% chance to pass your turn can turn a sure win into a potential loss, and if you need to land multiple Hurricanes in a row, the chances of missing multiplies. It just isn't a reliable way of cleaning up late game. Pidgeot doesn't have that problem, it's an extremely reliable way of cleaning late game.

also it's so much better than torn during those days when 70 = 0

 

[DarkNostalgia]

Heh I've been using Work Up Mega Pidgeot and it's actually been pretty underwhelming. It might be because of my impatience and whatnot but Mega Pidgeot does receive a lot of offensive pressure and I find that it's kind of hard to actually be able to set up Work Up and clean with Hurricane. A lot of the teams I met were either garbage teams consisting of trash such as Zebstrika and Focus Sash Ariados which I literally just 6-0 with Excadrill or very offensive builds that put a lot of offensive pressure on Mega Pidgeot, meaning that there aren't many setup opportunities. There's also a ton of checks such as Raikou, Tyranitar, and Mega Diancie which I see in like every team and most of the time I don't weaken them I just straight up OHKO them with like Excadrill or Manaphy o_o. In all my ladder games / games against friends Mega Pidgeot doesn't put in much work to be honest. In this metagame I do prefer Tornadus-T because of the utility of Regenerator, U-turn, and Knock Off.

 

[heritage]

Alrighty, thanks for all the discussion this week, as there was quite a lot of it and it was pretty good quality. I wanted to wait until Vertex gets back to update this, but that's a week away and I didn't want to delay this any more, so let's get going!

This week's test subjects are:
Victini, Mega Garchomp, Dragalge

Remember this is only sign-ups at the moment. You can give small talk during this time but try not to talk too much, save it for the discussion period! Have fun!~

 

[Dr Ciel]

Research Subject: Victini

Ladder Account: Reccy Is A Loli

Love you Recreant

 

[DarkNostalgia]

Research Subject: Dragalge
Ladder Account: DarkNostalgia

i already have a dragalge team yay

 

[Vinc608]

Research Subject: Victini
Ladder Account: Vinctini

 

[kingmidas]

Subject: Dragalge
Alt: Dragalgeluvsferro

 

[Ranger Mike]

Subject: Victini
Alt: RNGer Mike

 

[Tressed]

Subject: Dragalge
Alt: tbd

 

[Vert]

what's up guys Dr Ciel DarkNostalgia Vinc608 Tressed kingmidas Ranger Mike

discussion period has begun! refer to the op if you are confused or stuck. no posts from last round have been implemented in to the hall of fame. have a nice day.