approved by SM OU mods
INCREDIBLE art by HotFuzzBall
Facebook Pokemon of the Week
Welcome to the Facebook Pokemon of the Week project, a now-public project that allows people to contribute Pokemon of the Week submissions to be posted on the official Smogon Facebook page! Enough contributions of well written Pokemon of the Weeks will eventually lead to the coveted Social Media Badge!
What is Pokemon of the Week?
A Pokemon of the Week (or PotW) post is a short, yet detailed overview of a Pokemon's competitive viability, i.e what it can do in a certain tier or metagame. This includes Mega Pokemon and includes write-ups in tiers ranging from Little Cup all the way to Ubers.
Here is an example of a PotW that covered Mega Charizard Y in ORAS OverUsed. (Credits to Celticpride)
A well-written PotW consists of a Pokemon's capabilities in a given tier, what it can accomplish, what it does well, and viable methods of checking/countering it. You can even go above and beyond and mention cores and proper teammates this specified Pokemon works well with and provide optional importable movesets for the said Pokemon.
What is Throwback Thursday?
We don't forget about older generations, either! In a segment called Throwback Thursday, we like to cover previous metagames and playstyles for those that prefer to dabble in or enjoy playing Pokemon of days past. The following is a classic example of a Throwback Thursday post. (Credits to p2)
How do I get started?
You can actually start right now! The new Sun and Moon metagame will be sure to provide several new Pokemon and sets into the fray, and you can start reserving and writing submissions up now! However, some Pokemon are already claimed, so you have to be quick to claim your favorites. Only one person can claim a Pokemon and write it up.
Art Contributions
Each and every Pokemon of the Week writeup needs an associated piece of artwork. A separate art thread will soon be opened to the public and allow contributors to aim for the Smogon Artist Badge.
However, this thread will only be opened after quite a few PotWs have been written. Approved Smogon artists will have the opportunity to reserve Pokemon with completed writeups to create art for. Once a piece of art is submitted, a fully completed PotW post will be fit into the schedule. The PotW art thread will be posted in Smeargle's Studio, the art subforum.
Additional Information
Pokemon of the Weeks follow a weekly schedule. They go up every Sunday, and Throwback Thursdays go up every Thursday. If you reserve a post on a high priority Pokemon, you may be faced with a deadline, especially in cases in which the Facebook page is in dire need of new content. Also note that writeups that are deemed lacking quality by our Quality Control staff will not count toward the contribution count under your name, and will be up for grabs by other people.
Post your completed writeups in this thread with a show/hide tag. If you have any questions, please also ask those in this thread! The social media staff are excited to see what you all have in store for us this generation for Sun and Moon. Happy writing everybody!
INCREDIBLE art by HotFuzzBall
Facebook Pokemon of the Week
What is Pokemon of the Week?
A Pokemon of the Week (or PotW) post is a short, yet detailed overview of a Pokemon's competitive viability, i.e what it can do in a certain tier or metagame. This includes Mega Pokemon and includes write-ups in tiers ranging from Little Cup all the way to Ubers.
Here is an example of a PotW that covered Mega Charizard Y in ORAS OverUsed. (Credits to Celticpride)
Charizard is widely considered one of the most popular Pokemon ever, and this generation finally gave it two viable Mega Evolutions that skyrocketed it to prominence in OU. One of the hardest hitters in OU, Mega Charizard Y's Fire Blast hits even Pokemon that resist Fire for large amounts of damage. This, combined with decent coverage, makes it one of the best wallbreakers in OU. Mega Charizard Y also offers decent defensive typing, including an important Ground immunity and a resistance to Fairy. It can also check threats such as Mega Scizor, Volcarona, and Serperior. Drought also allows Mega Charizard Y to combat other weather teams, as it is the only weather setter in OU to abuse its own weather offensively.
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
This is Mega Charizard Y's flagship set. Maximum Special Attack and Speed ensure Mega Charizard Y hits as hard as possible and outspeeds as many important targets as possible. Fire Blast is a staple on this set, and between the STAB boost and the Drought boost, anything that doesn't resist Fire takes heavy damage. Flamethrower can be used over Fire Blast for more PP and better accuracy, but the power drop between the two is noticeable. Solarbeam charges in one turn instead of two in the Sun, and it provides valuable coverage by hitting bulky Water-types such as Slowbro and Rotom-W super effectively. Focus Blast provides Fighting-type coverage, which is important to hit targets such as Heatran and Tyranitar. Roost allows Mega Charizard Y to recover health and is especially important because Mega Charizard Y has a 4x Stealth Rock weakness.
Not all is prefect for Mega Charizard Y, however, as its typing leaves it with a huge 4x Stealth Rock weakness, limiting the amount of times it can come in without Roosting. Fire / Grass / Fighting coverage, while good overall, leaves it walled by the ever-common Latios and Latias (it is important to note that most Mega Charizard Y are paired with Pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar specifically to trap Latios and Latias). Mega Altaria, specially defensive Talonflame, and Chansey also present problems from a defensive standpoint. Faster offensive checks, such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Mega Diancie, can also handle Mega Charizard Y. Finally, Mega Charizard Y's lower Speed leaves it vulnerable to being revenge killed by faster Electric-types such as Thundurus and Mega Manectric can easily revenge kill Mega Charizard Y.
Overall, it is easy to see why Mega Charizard Y is a top-tier OU threat: it presents a tremendous amount of pressure right from the start. Give it a try!
Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
This is Mega Charizard Y's flagship set. Maximum Special Attack and Speed ensure Mega Charizard Y hits as hard as possible and outspeeds as many important targets as possible. Fire Blast is a staple on this set, and between the STAB boost and the Drought boost, anything that doesn't resist Fire takes heavy damage. Flamethrower can be used over Fire Blast for more PP and better accuracy, but the power drop between the two is noticeable. Solarbeam charges in one turn instead of two in the Sun, and it provides valuable coverage by hitting bulky Water-types such as Slowbro and Rotom-W super effectively. Focus Blast provides Fighting-type coverage, which is important to hit targets such as Heatran and Tyranitar. Roost allows Mega Charizard Y to recover health and is especially important because Mega Charizard Y has a 4x Stealth Rock weakness.
Not all is prefect for Mega Charizard Y, however, as its typing leaves it with a huge 4x Stealth Rock weakness, limiting the amount of times it can come in without Roosting. Fire / Grass / Fighting coverage, while good overall, leaves it walled by the ever-common Latios and Latias (it is important to note that most Mega Charizard Y are paired with Pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar specifically to trap Latios and Latias). Mega Altaria, specially defensive Talonflame, and Chansey also present problems from a defensive standpoint. Faster offensive checks, such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Mega Diancie, can also handle Mega Charizard Y. Finally, Mega Charizard Y's lower Speed leaves it vulnerable to being revenge killed by faster Electric-types such as Thundurus and Mega Manectric can easily revenge kill Mega Charizard Y.
Overall, it is easy to see why Mega Charizard Y is a top-tier OU threat: it presents a tremendous amount of pressure right from the start. Give it a try!
A well-written PotW consists of a Pokemon's capabilities in a given tier, what it can accomplish, what it does well, and viable methods of checking/countering it. You can even go above and beyond and mention cores and proper teammates this specified Pokemon works well with and provide optional importable movesets for the said Pokemon.
What is Throwback Thursday?
We don't forget about older generations, either! In a segment called Throwback Thursday, we like to cover previous metagames and playstyles for those that prefer to dabble in or enjoy playing Pokemon of days past. The following is a classic example of a Throwback Thursday post. (Credits to p2)
Golem shares many traits with Rhydon, with its invaluable resistance and immunity to Normal- and Electric-type moves, which make it a solid switch-in to the likes of Tauros and Snorlax that is also capable of hard countering Zapdos and Jolteon. Golem has access to Explosion along with slightly higher Special and Speed, helping separate it from Rhydon, which has slightly higher Attack and is thus more effective at switching into the likes of Normal-types. Explosion is an incredibly useful tool in RBY that allows Golem to function as an emergency stop and revenge killer to threatening Pokemon such as Slowbro, and depending on the opponent's team, it can be more useful to use Golem to explode against Slowbro than to lose Snorlax or Exeggutor early. Despite the fierce competition from Rhydon, Golem is still a very viable choice to use in a team and is still a big threat to keep in mind when teambuilding.
Golem
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion
Golem's most used set is very similar to Rhydon's, only with Explosion over Substitute. Body Slam is the main move to use when Golem forces a switch, as it allows Golem to potentially paralyze faster Pokemon such as Starmie and Exeggutor and is capable of crippling Pokemon such as Slowbro. Earthquake has great coverage and is very powerful coming off Golem's base 110 Attack. Rock Slide pairs well with Earthquake, as it deals super effective damage to Flying-types and deals neutral damage to Grass-types that resist Earthquake. Explosion allows Golem to act as an emergency button against Pokemon such as Slowbro, preventing it from setting up and sweeping. It also does very heavy damage to everything in the tier that doesn't resist it. Golem's movepool is very limited, so unfortunately, it has few other viable options, though it can run Substitute, similarly to Rhydon.
Beating Golem is, again, very similar to beating Rhydon in that common Water- and Grass-types are effective switch-ins and are capable of threatening an OHKO. Exeggutor is one of the best switch-ins to Golem and deals heavy damage with Psychic and does 78% minimum with Mega Drain. The likes of Venusaur and Victreebel are able to OHKO Golem with Razor Leaf. Slowbro can easily switch in and OHKO with Surf, but it has to watch out for Explosion, as Golem is faster. Starmie can switch in but takes 45% from switching into Earthquake. Ice-types such as Jynx, Articuno, and Lapras all struggle to switch into Golem but are capable of OHKOing Golem with Blizzard.
Golem
- Body Slam
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Explosion
Golem's most used set is very similar to Rhydon's, only with Explosion over Substitute. Body Slam is the main move to use when Golem forces a switch, as it allows Golem to potentially paralyze faster Pokemon such as Starmie and Exeggutor and is capable of crippling Pokemon such as Slowbro. Earthquake has great coverage and is very powerful coming off Golem's base 110 Attack. Rock Slide pairs well with Earthquake, as it deals super effective damage to Flying-types and deals neutral damage to Grass-types that resist Earthquake. Explosion allows Golem to act as an emergency button against Pokemon such as Slowbro, preventing it from setting up and sweeping. It also does very heavy damage to everything in the tier that doesn't resist it. Golem's movepool is very limited, so unfortunately, it has few other viable options, though it can run Substitute, similarly to Rhydon.
Beating Golem is, again, very similar to beating Rhydon in that common Water- and Grass-types are effective switch-ins and are capable of threatening an OHKO. Exeggutor is one of the best switch-ins to Golem and deals heavy damage with Psychic and does 78% minimum with Mega Drain. The likes of Venusaur and Victreebel are able to OHKO Golem with Razor Leaf. Slowbro can easily switch in and OHKO with Surf, but it has to watch out for Explosion, as Golem is faster. Starmie can switch in but takes 45% from switching into Earthquake. Ice-types such as Jynx, Articuno, and Lapras all struggle to switch into Golem but are capable of OHKOing Golem with Blizzard.
How do I get started?
You can actually start right now! The new Sun and Moon metagame will be sure to provide several new Pokemon and sets into the fray, and you can start reserving and writing submissions up now! However, some Pokemon are already claimed, so you have to be quick to claim your favorites. Only one person can claim a Pokemon and write it up.
Art Contributions
Each and every Pokemon of the Week writeup needs an associated piece of artwork. A separate art thread will soon be opened to the public and allow contributors to aim for the Smogon Artist Badge.
Additional Information
Pokemon of the Weeks follow a weekly schedule. They go up every Sunday, and Throwback Thursdays go up every Thursday. If you reserve a post on a high priority Pokemon, you may be faced with a deadline, especially in cases in which the Facebook page is in dire need of new content. Also note that writeups that are deemed lacking quality by our Quality Control staff will not count toward the contribution count under your name, and will be up for grabs by other people.
Post your completed writeups in this thread with a show/hide tag. If you have any questions, please also ask those in this thread! The social media staff are excited to see what you all have in store for us this generation for Sun and Moon. Happy writing everybody!
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