Pokemon Spotlights: Sun & Moon (Pokemon of the Week: See Post #89)

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Sun

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Gengar has always been one of the most feared pokemon in generations in overused, unfortunately, this year with the coming of sun and moon, Gengar lost his levitate and then it lost its immunity to Ground-type attacks, and that means it can not enter into Earthquakes from Garchomp or Landorus-t anymore, acquiring the ability Cursed body. Gengar has a good movepool, and in this metagame where there are many fairy-types like tapus, can be a very effective pokemon.


Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

This is the main Gengar set, Life orb as item is really helpful to allow Gengar to hit hard as possible in the metagame, its speed base 110 allows him to outspeed and kill all Tapus bar tapu koko and scarf lele, the moves are Shadow ball, a pretty spamable stab very useful to hit psychic types and very good to do strong neutral damage in the metagame, next, We have sludge wave, which is its premier stab to deal with fairy-types like tapus and clefable and grass pokemons as tang, after that, Gengar runs focus blast, which is a very strong against heatrans, ferrothorns and Tyranitar coming in, At last, Taunt, a very good move to deal better with stallish builds thus preventing defensive pokemons to heal their hp and a rocker to set up hazards, gengar helps very well teammates to break more easily some defensive cores with its wallbreaking capabilities, a good moveset option over Focus blast would be using Icy wind if the team already have answers to deal with steels and dark types, icy wind is very useful on gar to catch landorus-t and Gliscor, another interesting choice can be Thunderbolt, which is really helpful to deal better with toxapex and Mantine coming in.

A not bad variant might be scarf Gengar, which exploit to its speed boost to outpseed fast threast the likes of scarf Lele, tapu koko, pheromosa and greninja, its a decent revenge killer in the metagame.


Gengar has flaws as every pokemon: is really weak to common pursuitters likes of TTar and Weavile, and this can be a bit problematic especially for a choice scarf set, maybe locked into shadow ball or sludge wave, and then, Pursuitters have easier time against it, another gengar problem is its speed, in this metagame, there are a lot of fast mons (like Pheromosa, scarf tapu lele and greninja) which can pressure a lot gengar, forcing his swithces, and since now gengar lack Levitate, can be really weaken by hazards during the battle, despite this, Gengar is an optimal wallbreaker and Stallbreaker in the metagame, What are you waiting for? Give it a try!



Latias its a very interesting pokemon, has a very solid bulk and a good speed tier that allow to outspeed threats like manaphy, kartana, Charizard Y and keldeo and force out pokemons like Landorus-t and mega Venusaur, unlike Latios, Latias is able to support teammates using Healing wish and Defog, with the coming of sun and moon, Latias loss its niche of using Latiasite, which is unreleased.

Latias @ Soul Dew / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing wish
- Defog / Recover

This is the most common set for Latias in overused, at first in the moveset, there is Draco meteor, which hits hard the dark types as Weavile and Hoopa-u that can not hit with Psyschok, Psychock is the main STAB as it doesn't lower Latias' stats, it hits fairy types which are immune to Draco meteor like Tapu Fini and Clefable and can be used to hit poison types like mega Venusaur, Healing wish its the main reason to use Latias over Latios and can gives cleaners and setup sweepers like mega Pinsir and mega Gyarados, a second chance to sweep by healing to full of their HP and curing status, Defog allows Latias to remove Stealth Rock and other hazards for its teammates who are worn down by them easily, Recover its an option that lets Latias act as more solid switch in to mega Charizard Y, Keldeo and mega Venusaur.
However, Latias its really weak to common pursuit users like Tyranitar, weavile and Bisharp that give hard time to Latias in the battle, steel types the likes of mega Metagross and mega Scizor, are very hard to deal with since Latias can't really do much against, fairy types like the tapus as tapu Lele and bulu, or Clefable and Magearna are a problem for it since they can hit latias with their stab or force its switch using stealth rock or using shift gear, revenge killers the likes of pheromosa, ash-greninja and Weavile can hit latias with their stabs preventing latias to use defog or healing wish, however Latias is a really interesting and useful support pokemon in the SM OU metagame, What are you waiting for? Give it a try!
 
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Pilo

uses walther
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Mega Pinsir is done. I left a mention of Genesect in on the occasion it doesn't get banned but I can easily remove it at QC's request.
Mega Pinsir returns for another bout at OU in Sun and Moon with its powerful Aerilate-boosted movepool, STAB priority, high Attack stat and base 105 Speed tier that allows it to outpace common threats such as Genesect, Mega Charizard-X, Mega Charizard-Y, Garchomp, and Manaphy. Not all is sunshine and rainbows, though, as generation 7 brought about a nerf to Mega Pinsir's ability, Aerilate lowering its damage multiplier from 1.3x to 1.2x. This generation also saw the introduction of Tapu Lele and Psychic Terrain which can render Mega Pinsir’s otherwise devastating Quick Attack completely useless, stopping it in its tracks. Don’t let these flaws discourage you, though, Mega Pinsir is still a force to be reckoned with.

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Close Combat

Mega Pinsir’s principal set is as simple as it is effective. Swords Dance allows Mega Pinsir to set up and possibly sweep, boosting its already monstrously high Attack stat allowing it to make short work of the opposing team once its checks and counters have been removed while Return becomes a fearsome Flying-type move with the help of Aerilate. Quick Attack also receives an Aerilate boost turning it into a powerful tool for revenge killing and late-game cleaning. Finally, Close Combat hits many Pokemon that resist Flying-type moves like Heatran, Magnezone, and Tyranitar for super effective damage enabling Mega Pinsir to break past Pokemon that would otherwise wall it.

Mega Pinsir’s most obvious vulnerability is its 4x weakness to Stealth Rock causing it to lose 50% of its health upon switch-in and severely limiting its ability to switch on the whole, making a hazard remover nigh mandatory. The ever present Tapu Lele can also be problematic since as previously mentioned its ability Psychic Surge can prevent Mega Pinsir from using Quick Attack. It’s worth noting that Mega Pinsir also struggles with Electric-types like Tapu Koko, Rotom-Wash, and Zapdos which can all take hits from it with varying degrees of ease and deal massive damage to Mega Pinsir in return with their respective STAB moves.
 
Wish I knew about this earlier, woulda did some more mons.
Reserving Kyurem.

MDASH EDIT: You're getting normal kyu bc kyub is already taken as an FYI
 
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Sun

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Sableye-Mega was a great pokemon in the oras ou metagame, its typing very solid made it very bulky and a solid staple of stall playstyle, its ability, Magic Bounce, allows him to bounce hazards and status attacks, in SM ou mega Sableye is a very interesting pokemon especially in stall builds, now we will see its most common set.


Sableye-Mega @ Sablenite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Knock Off
- Protect

This is the most used set of mega Sableye in ou, we can see that its defensive nature allows him to counter special attackers the likes of mega Alakazam and Gengar, and thanks to Magic Bounce it can handle pokemons the likes of Skarmory, Ferrothorn , Hippowdon, and celesteela very easily, the moveset is very clear, Will-O-Wisp allows him to deal better with physical attackers as mega Metagross, mega Scizor, Weavile, Recover is mandatory to stay healthy during the game, next, we have Knock off, which is a very useful move used to remove oppo's pokemon items, removing items from the oppo's pokemons can be really helpful to win a game, at last, we have protect, protect is a very cool move to to mega evolve Sableye safely in the battle, this move can be also very risky against set-uppers the likes of mega charizard x, volcarona, fake out can be a interesting choice to prevents the setup from these kind of pokemons, but with Tapu Lele around, fake out its still hard to use since with Psychic surge the priority attacks have no effect, and accordingly, Sableye has no way to mega evolve safely in the battle, the spread allows mega Sableye to deal with Gengar and mega alakazam, the rest of evs in physical defense to deal better with physical attackers.

Mega Sableye has its flaws, like all, mega Sableye its really weak to fire types the likes of heatran, volcarona, charizard x, charizard y, volcanion since these can absorb the WoW and in return they can do a lot of damage to mega sableye, another problem are fairy types, especially in gen 7, which we got a lot of fairy types that can be threatening for mega Sableye the likes of Tapus, especially Tapu Fini, which set the misty surge, which makes the grounded pokemons immune to status as WoW, making mega Sableye role useless, also strong wallbreakers as lum berry SD garchomp, manaphy, and SD Landorus-t are really hard to deal with for mega sableye, despite this, mega sableye its a good pokemon in the current metagame, What are you waiting for? Give it a try!
 
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Hey everybody!

Yea, it's been a bit since I've updated the OP.. there's no excuse for that except for me being busy and semi lazy about it. But don't fret! I'm back and we're ready for the new year of 2017!

Though.. we've been getting a lot of suggestions. I don't think we should keep the project name Pokemon of the Week anymore. (considering there's only 52 weeks in a year, and we have WAY MORE than just 52 submissions thanks to you all!) I think it's time for a new title of the project, Pokemon Spotlight!

We're going to make it so multiple write-ups will be featured weekly, due to all these submissions we've been getting. We're also now accepting Pokemon Other than just OU because tiers are now starting to settle down within the lower tiers, such as UU and RU. Sorry for the wait everybody, but it's time to kick this new year off with a slightly improved PotW project!

Now go ahead and start submitting!
 

Overview
Sun and Moon gave Mega Sharpedo a small buff with the Mega speed change and a great new tool in the form of Psychic Fangs, letting it function as a monstrous late-game cleaner. Due to a fantastic pre-mega ability in Speed Boost, Mega Sharpedo can rack up +1 speed with Protect, allowing to outspeed threats like Scarf Lando-T, Mega Alakazam, Weavile, Dugtrio, Zygarde-10%, Serperior, Thundurus, Tornadus-T, and Mega Metagross. After Mega-evolving, Mega Sharpedo gets a fantastic ability in Strong Jaw, which boosts its STAB Crunch and coverage moves like Psychic Fang and Ice Fang, letting it sweep weakened balance teams or even healthy offensive teams with ease.

Unfortunately, Mega Sharpedo is quite frail, and as a result, it is susceptible to priority moves like Breloom's Mach Punch. Even resisted hits do enormous damage to Mega Sharpedo, so it must be brought in (ideally through a slow pivot) on Pokemon it can force out. In addition, Mega Sharpedo almost always needs Protect to get at least 1 Speed Boost, which can give other teams free turns if predicted. Finally, while Mega Sharpedo has good power, it is not enough to OHKO or 2HKO many Pokemon without entry hazards or chip damage, relegating it to the role of a cleaner as opposed to a set-up sweeper or wallbreaker. Nonetheless, underestimating Mega Sharpedo's speed and power is a big mistake.

Flagship Set
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Waterfall / Poison Jab / Ice Fang

Set Details
This is Mega Sharpedo's best set right now. Protect and Crunch are mandatory as a way to rack up Speed Boosts (and scout out Choice-locked Pokemon that might try and revenge-kill you unexpectedly) and the best STAB option Sharpedo has. Psychic Fangs is critical to Mega Sharpedo, as it allows it to blow through old counters like Keldeo, Chesnaught, and Mega Venusaur with what is functionally a (5 BP) stronger STAB Zen Headbutt (that can't miss). The last slot is team-dependent. Waterfall is powerful Water STAB that lets Sharpedo blow through Landorus-T, Heatran, Hippowdon, and Excadrill. Poison Jab lets Sharpedo 2HKO Azumarill, Primarina, Clefable, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Fini. Ice Fang crushes Zygarde, Garchomp, Dragonite, Serperior, and Landorus-T.

An Adamant nature is preferred due to the raw power it brings (securing some important 2HKOs and OHKOs without hazards), while Jolly lets Mega Sharpedo at +1 outspeed Scarf Tapu Lele and OHKO it with Crunch. Adamant +1 Speed Mega Sharpedo still outspeeds anything up to and including Scarf Landorus-T though, so it's not exactly slow by any means.

Team Options
Mega Sharpedo appreciates wallbreakers as partners because it fits on offensive teams and needs foes worn down prior to sweeping. In particular, Mega Sharpedo loves for Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, Tapu Fini, and Skarmory to be worn down so that they are in the range to be 2HKO'd or OHKO'd by Mega Sharpedo. Therefore, Pheromosa, Tapu Koko, Specs Tapu Lele, Band Tapu Bulu, LO Protean Greninja, Choice Specs Magnezone, and Weavile are excellent partners. Tapu Lele gets even more points as it automatically sets up Psychic Terrain, thus granting Mega Sharpedo protection from priority moves such as Breloom's Mach Punch, as well as boosting the power of Psychic Fangs (to the point where Defensive Mega Venusaur takes a minimum of 63% from it).

As it's a cleaner, Mega Sharpedo also greatly appreciates entry hazards to wear down the opponent's Pokemon so that Mega Sharpedo can OHKO or 2HKO the team. Good entry hazard setters for offensive teams like the ones Mega Sharpedo is found on are Klefki, Scolipede, Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Nihilego.

Checks and Counters
Fat water types like Mega Gyarados take little damage from Sharpedo's arsenal and can set up multiple Dragon Dance on it. Azumarill, Primarina, and Tapu Fini are able to easily switch in on Mega Sharpedo's dual STAB combination, though they must beware of Psychic Fangs and Poison Jab (Psychic Fangs 2HKOs Banded Azumarill on the switch while Poison Jab 2HKOs Defensive Tapu Fini after Stealth Rock). Alomomola and Quagsire can prove bothersome for Mega Sharpedo to break through if hazards are not up, particularly if they inflict it with a Scald burn.

Priority users such as Breloom, Dragonite, and Zygarde-10% can all deal massive damage to Mega Sharpedo with their respective priority moves.

Lastly, bulky grass types like Ferrothorn and Tangwroth can stomach hits from Mega Sharpedo and simply OHKO it with a STAB move. Meanwhile, Tapu Bulu can completely wall any variants of Mega Sharpedo lacking Poison Jab.
 
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Sun

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reserving Tangrowth and alolan muk :D


Tangrowth is a really cool pivot pokemon in sm ou, its able to switch into many electric, water and ground-types offensive pokemons thanks to its huge physical bulk and Regenerator, is has an interesting coverage with sleep powder, knock off and earthquake, hidden power and sludge bomb. with SuMo it has new wallbreakers to check, tapu koko, zygarde and tapu bulu.


Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Leaf Storm / Giga drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This is an Assault vest set, due to this item, Tangrowth solves its lack in special bulk, making it able to survive some special attacks from Manaphy, Latios, Alakazam-mega and Tapu Koko, the moveset here is pretty interesting, at first, it has Leaf storm, a strong STAB that is able to OHKO Manaphy, Giga drain as slashed option could be cool if you don't drop the special attack, Knock off is a must in this set since removing items can be very useful to cripple pokemons the likes of Celesteela, Heatran, Latios and Magearna that can easily switch into Tang, Earthquake its a decent coverage move useful to hit fire types like Heatran and mega charizard x, Hidden power fire its very useful to hit steel types like mega Scizor, Skarmory and grass types like Tapu Bulu and ferrothorn, there are also decent options, Hidden power ice might be cool to hit Landorus-t, garchomp, zygarde and Gliscor, Rock slide is interesting to catch flying pokemons like mega Pinsir and mega Charizard y coming in, finally, sludge bomb, which is very useful to hit fairy types like tapu bulu. good partners for tang might be Latios, since it can check poison types like mega venusaur and amoonguss, or rotom-w, which can deal with both fire and flying pokemons that are scary for Tangrowth, it also can fit very well in a FWG core in a bulky offense team, maybe with tapu fini, since charizard x and heatran give trouble to tang, or in a defensive backbone in a balance team, for example with rotom-w and heatran, in order to check some threats in the metagame.


Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This is a physical defensive set, this set is really interesting since can exploit all the physical bulk and pivoting capability to switch into wallbreakers like Kartana, Landorus-t (z-Flyless), mega Gyarados, mega Metagross, tapu bulu, excadrill and zygarde thanks to regenerator, let's see the set, sleep powder is an amazing move that can put to sleep oppo's pokemons making them less dangerous, Knock off, as always, its the safest move that can cripple a lot of switch ins removing their items, Giga drain its the stab that allows Tang to hit water types like Rotom-w or tapu fini also recovering some health, Hidden power fire its the best move to hit steel types the likes of mega scizor and Ferrothorn, a good option might be using stun spore, which can catch very well mega pinsir or heatran coming in, another one can be hidden power ice to catch lando-t, zygarde and gliscor, rocky helmet and regenerator punish u-turn users very well and make Tangrowth very hard to deal with for physical attackers, good partners for this set are latios, which can deal with poison types and heatran (using surf), Toxapex is another cool pokemon to pair with it, making a strong and solid regenerator backone, a FWG core with tapu fini and heatran make you to worry about less to fire types that usually coming in like charizard x or heatran, finally Tyranitar and Hippowdon might be very useful to deal with both mega charizard forms.

Tang has flaws, the popularity of tapu lele, pheromosa and ash greninja make it very hard to use in the game since them can pressure tang a lot in the game, however, Tangrowth is a really cool pokemon in the metagame What are you waiting for? Give it a try!



With the coming of sun and moon, Muk got an Alola form, it got also the dark type, making its typing poison/dark, which is very amazing with its stats. With this new form, Muk act as a very strong and effective pivot, now it can learn moves like Knock off and Pursuit, which made it very useful against psychic types like tapu lele. now we'll see the most common set for alolan Muk.


Muk-Alola @ Assault Vest
Ability: Poison Touch
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Atk / 16 SpD
Adamant Nature / Brave nature
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Poison Jab / Gunk shot
- Shadow Sneak / Fire blast

There is the most common set for alolan Muk, this set is really solid against special attackers the likes of tapu Lele, mega Alakazam and Latios using Assault vest to make its special defense very amazing, Knock off as first STAB move to cripple switch ins removing their items and paired with a 30% chance to poison becomes very annoying for some switch in that doesn't appreciate a poison, after that, we have Pursuit, which is useful to trap things that usually go away against Muk, like psychic types and ghost types, Poison jab is the second STAB, with it, Muk can OHKO all tapus bar max hp tapu fini, Poison jab is also really good because it have a high 50% chance to poison the target, Gunk shot might be an option to do more damage without making contact, which is very useful against rocky helmet users like lando-t or Tankchomp, keeping Muk healthier throughout the match, Shadow Sneak allows Muk to revenge kill weakened pokemons, Fire blast might be an option over this to hit steel types like mega scizor, Ferrothorn and skarmory, is recommended to use a brave nature when using Fire blast to do more damage as possible to the targets aforementioned. Good partners for alolan muk are Tapu bulu, which helps very well muk setting grassy terrain, that is able to weaken ground type attacks, Buzzwole is another cool teammate because it can deal with ground types attacks and can be scary for steel types, trappers the likes of Magnezone and Dugtrio ca be really useful for muk for the removing of mega scizor and ferrothorn, and heatran, rotom-w is another interesting partner since it can switch in a predicted ground type attack and deal with bulky grounds like hippo, sand rush excadrill and lando using hydro pump and will-o-wisp.

Muk is a really weak to common physical ground types in the metagame like landorus-t, excadrill and garchomp, and the lack of recovery with its low physical defense, make alolan muk very frail in the physical side, anyway, a-Muk is a really solid mon against special attackers which is able to trap, wait are you waiting for? Give it a try!
 
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Sun

Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do...
is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
I would reserve Dragonite
since the user Deagle M40 is gone o.o


Dragonite its a very interesting dragon type, it has the ability Multiscale, which greatly increases its natural bulk allowing him to survive some super effective attacks when it has full HP. The ability to use Dragon dance made him one of the scariest threats in the sm ou metagame, also with the coming of sun and moon, it has the full capacity to take advantage of z-crystals thanks to its large moveset. With its good stats, it can run many roles in the game like wallbreaker and late game sweeper, it also need a lot of support by teammates to take intact multiscale and to weaken switch ins. now we'll see the sets that dragonite usually run.


Dragonite @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fly
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance

This is the most common Dragonite set, thanks to Flyinium z it can be really powerful hitting the oppo's pokemon with a very strong z-move, the moveset explains itself, Fly as main flying STAB to do a powerful Supersonic Skystrike, Fire punch is a very interesting move to deal with Tapu bulu and steel types the likes of Ferrothorn and mega Scizor, Earthquake is a cool option if the teammates appreciates more mega metagross, magearna, heatran, Tyranitar gone, Extreme speed is mandatory in this set, allowing Dnite to hit faster threats the likes of pheromosa, Weavile and Greninja, Dragon dance, at last, that is able to made dragonite a really threatening wallbreaker. Dragonite appreciates hazard removers as tapu fini and excadrill which can preserve Multiscale removing hazards and these can deal with dragon and fairy types respectively, another cool partner might be magnezone, which can trap steel types as skarmory, mega scizor and celeestela, and can deal very well with tapus, finally, wallbreakers that appreciates steel types gone like mega metagross ad mega scizor are good teammates.


Dragonite @ Electrium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Claw / Outrage
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Thunder Punch
- Dragon Dance

This set is designed mainly to take advantage of electrium z to catch and deal common dragonite switch ins or checks like celesteela, skarmory, tapu fini, mega slowbro, toxapex and tapu lele. Dragon claw is the main dragon STAB in this set, definitely preferred to Outrage right now because there are a lot of common fairy pokemons in the metagame, anyway, outrage as option can be a fine choice, use it carefully, Fire punch is here as coverage move to deal with tapu bulu and steel types likes ferrothorn and mega scizor, as option, earthquake to hit hard tyranitar, heatran, mega metagross and magearna, Thunderpunch +electrium z, as I described above, allows dragonite to do gigavolt havoc hitting hard the aforementioned pokemons, a jolly nature here is needed because allows dnite to outspeed mega alakazam and pheromosa and also because it lacks priority in extreme speed. Pokemons that appreciates the removal of tapu fini and toxapex like ash greninja and charizard x are really good teammates, mega metagross is another cool partner since it can deal with fairy types as tapu lele and clefable, hazard removers like tapu fini and excadrill are appreciated by dragonite since can remove hazards and deal with fairy and dragons types.

Dragonite has many variants, DD lum berry is a very cool set which allows dragonite to setup avoiding status, also it can run a Choice band set, which exploit all Dragonite's wallbreaking power, can be a risk locking it into extreme speed since tapu lele and mega metagross can have easier time against it, bulky DD Sub Fly is another variant, which was very interesting the last gen, in gen 7 cannot be an optimal set since there are tapus around, waterium z plus waterfall can be a very interesting set due to its ability to lure fat grounds like Landorus-t and Hippowdon, finally weakness policy is a cool item on dragonite, which allows dnite to get a free +2 atk boost after taking a super effective move thanks to Multiscale.

Dragonite has flaws, its really weak to the common fairy types like koko, lele and fini, also the popularity of ice punch mega metagross made dragonite a bit hard to set up, however, dragonite is still one of the best dragon dancer in ou, probably the most unpredictable right now due to its ability to carry many sets. What are you waiting for? Give it a try!
 
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Overview
Sun and Moon gave Mega Sharpedo a small buff with the Mega speed change and a great new tool in the form of Psychic Fangs, letting it function as a monstrous late-game cleaner. Due to a fantastic pre-mega ability in Speed Boost, Mega Sharpedo can rack up +1 speed with Protect, allowing to outspeed threats like Scarf Lando-T, Mega Alakazam, Weavile, Dugtrio, Zygarde-10%, Serperior, Thundurus, Tornadus-T, and Mega Metagross. After Mega-evolving, Mega Sharpedo gets a fantastic ability in Strong Jaw, which boosts its STAB Crunch and coverage moves like Psychic Fang and Ice Fang, letting it sweep weakened balance teams or even healthy offensive teams with ease.

Unfortunately, Mega Sharpedo is quite frail, and as a result, it is susceptible to priority moves like Breloom's Mach Punch. Even resisted hits do enormous damage to Mega Sharpedo, so it must be brought in (ideally through a slow pivot) on Pokemon it can force out. In addition, Mega Sharpedo almost always needs Protect to get at least 1 Speed Boost, which can give other teams free turns if predicted. Finally, while Mega Sharpedo has good power, it is not enough to OHKO or 2HKO many Pokemon without entry hazards or chip damage, relegating it to the role of a cleaner as opposed to a set-up sweeper or wallbreaker. Nonetheless, underestimating Mega Sharpedo's speed and power is a big mistake.

Flagship Set
Sharpedo @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Waterfall / Poison Jab / Ice Fang

Set Details
This is Mega Sharpedo's best set right now. Protect and Crunch are mandatory as a way to rack up Speed Boosts (and scout out Choice-locked Pokemon that might try and revenge-kill you unexpectedly) and the best STAB option Sharpedo has. Psychic Fangs is critical to Mega Sharpedo, as it allows it to blow through old counters like Keldeo, Chesnaught, and Mega Venusaur with what is functionally a (5 BP) stronger STAB Zen Headbutt (that can't miss). The last slot is team-dependent. Waterfall is powerful Water STAB that lets Sharpedo blow through Landorus-T, Heatran, Hippowdon, and Excadrill. Poison Jab lets Sharpedo 2HKO Azumarill, Primarina, Clefable, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Fini. Ice Fang crushes Zygarde, Garchomp, Dragonite, Serperior, and Landorus-T.

An Adamant nature is preferred due to the raw power it brings (securing some important 2HKOs and OHKOs without hazards), while Jolly lets Mega Sharpedo at +1 outspeed Scarf Tapu Lele and OHKO it with Crunch. Adamant +1 Speed Mega Sharpedo still outspeeds anything up to and including Scarf Landorus-T though, so it's not exactly slow by any means.

Team Options
Mega Sharpedo appreciates wallbreakers as partners because it fits on offensive teams and needs foes worn down prior to sweeping. In particular, Mega Sharpedo loves for Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, Tapu Fini, and Skarmory to be worn down so that they are in the range to be 2HKO'd or OHKO'd by Mega Sharpedo. Therefore, Pheromosa, Mega Alakazam, Tapu Koko, Specs Tapu Lele, Band Tapu Bulu, LO Protean Greninja, Choice Specs Magnezone, and Weavile are excellent partners. Tapu Lele gets even more points as it automatically sets up Psychic Terrain, thus granting Mega Sharpedo protection from priority moves such as Breloom's Mach Punch, as well as boosting the power of Psychic Fangs (to the point where Defensive Mega Venusaur takes a minimum of 63% from it).

As it's a cleaner, Mega Sharpedo also greatly appreciates entry hazards to wear down the opponent's Pokemon so that Mega Sharpedo can OHKO or 2HKO the team. Good entry hazard setters for offensive teams like the ones Mega Sharpedo is found on are Klefki, Scolipede, Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Nihilego.

Checks and Counters
Fat water types like Mega Gyarados take little damage from Sharpedo's arsenal and can set up multiple Dragon Dance on it. Azumarill, Primarina, and Tapu Fini are able to easily switch in on Mega Sharpedo's dual STAB combination, though they must beware of Psychic Fangs and Poison Jab (Psychic Fangs 2HKOs Banded Azumarill on the switch while Poison Jab 2HKOs Defensive Tapu Fini after Stealth Rock). Alomomola and Quagsire can prove bothersome for Mega Sharpedo to break through if hazards are not up, particularly if they inflict it with a Scald burn.

Priority users such as Breloom, Dragonite, and Zygarde-10% can all deal massive damage to Mega Sharpedo with their respective priority moves.

Lastly, bulky grass types like Ferrothorn and Tangwroth can stomach hits from Mega Sharpedo and simply OHKO it with a STAB move. Meanwhile, Tapu Bulu can completely wall any variants of Mega Sharpedo lacking Poison Jab.
Mega Alakazam can't be a partner.
 
Reserving Bewear. ;

Bewear was introduced by SunMoon. From the beginning, it was interesting with his stats like 125 Attack and 120 HP. He has also a good 80 on Defense. His movepool is also great, he can learn a lot of offensive moves like Superpower, Earthquake, Hammer arm, Shadow Claw, Ice punch, return and set-up move like SD and bulk up. Finally, he got a excellent ability, Fluffy. With that, Bewear takes 1/2 damage from contact moves, but 2x damage from fire moves.

Bewear @ Choice Band / Assault Vest
Ability: Fluffy
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hammer Arm
- Return
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake / Shadow Claw

There is the best set of Bewear. The item, is as you want, Choice band offer enormous wallbreaking capacity, while the AV allows to switch more easily vs special attackers like Heatran and Magnezone. Also the combinaison of Fluffy + AV is great. Hammer Am and Return are here to have a solide double STAB. Not a lot of a pokemon can switch to it easily. Ice punch is to Lando-t in particular. For the last move, Earthquake / Shadow Claw is here to break A-marowak because it can't touch marowak with his stab. We use a Adamant nature to maximize the Attack.

Conclusion : Bewear is a threat. His combinaison of the Bulk + 125 Stat Attack is Dangerous, It will have its place in UU!
 
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Phantom Me

Banned deucer.
I'd like to reserve Alomomola

Introduced in Gen V, Alomomola was never a top tier threat. It follows up to Gen VII, as it is still one of the most underrated Pokemon which can be used in OU. However, it is not useless, it can fit in some the defensive minded teams. With a gigantic base 165 HP, good defense, decent defensive water typing, useful support movepool, and a great ability in regenerator, it can check physical attackers like scarf Garchomp, Mega Metagross, Mega Scizor and Zygarde 10%.

Alomomola @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 36 HP / 220 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

This set uses Alomomola as a utility. Scald lets it chip away attackers that can't force it out and can cripple physical attackers with a burn. Wish gives Alomomola a reliable recovery and can give giant wishes to its teammates due to its huge HP. Protect is used in tandem with Wish to heal itself or get an extra turn of Leftovers recovery or damage the opponent more with poison/burn. Toxic enables Alomomola to cover a wide range of switchins, defensive Pokemons and special sweepers that aren't bothered by a burn. The EV set allows checking a plethora of threats such as Pheromosa, offensive Mega Scizor and Nihilego. 36 HP allows it to pass bigger wishes and give it more recovery by leftovers and regenerator and the rest of it is used to increase SpD and Def.

Alomomola has some drawbacks too. It is very passive, unable to threaten any Pokemon directly except for slowly wearing them down with status moves which some Pokemon can take advantages, such as Gyarados, Tapu Bulu, Magearna, Celesteela, and Manaphy.There are also plenty of electric types in this tier, such as Tapu Koko, Thundurus and Tapu Bulu, which requires Alomomola some good teammates. Strong special attackers like Hoopa-U and Latios can force it out. It is also unable to break through fat grass Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Tangrowth. Taunt leaves it absolutely useless as it cannot use any utility moves.

Alomomola works well on Stall and balance teams, a lot of Pokemon of these archetypes works well with it. Special walls like Chansey and Mantine complements it by checking the special attackers it cannot. Alolan Marowak makes an amazing partner due to its ability Lightning Rod, giving it immunity to electric type attacks and Alolan Marowak is incredibly benefitted from Wish support. Unaware users, Haze users, and Phaze users can help against Pokemon that use it as setup fodder. Defog users such as Skarmory and Mantine and spinners such as Excadrill can help it from wearing down.

Even though the current meta is not favorable to it and it is an underrated Pokemon, it can find it's place in defensive teams. So go ahead and give it a try!


I'd like to do Clefable also
 
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It's not on the list (at least, as far as I can see), but could I reserve Nidoking as it ranked as viable (currently C+) for OU.
 

HotFuzzBall

fuzzy-chan \(ㆁヮㆁ✿)
is an Artist
after like 2.5 months of reservation...

Tapu Fini holds the title as one of the four guardians of the Alola region, and due to its numerous strengths, it is no surprise why. With its release, Tapu Fini was ridiculed for being "the worst Tapu ever." A lot of people were emphasizing its weaknesses as both an offensive and defensive Pokemon as well as the "uselessness" of Misty Terrain, rather than its strengths. However as time went on, Tapu Fini has made itself known as a top-tier defensive presence in the OU tier. Sporting a fantastic Water / Fairy typing which provides Tapu Fini to a lot of resistances to common types such as Fire, Water, Dragon, and Dark, which is complimented by its amazing 70 / 115 / 130 natural bulk. Tapu Fini also holds a respectable 85 base Speed which allows it to outspeed defensive threats such as Celesteela, Mantine, and Clefable. While Misty Terrain may appear mediocre compared to the other terrain options on the surface, it still holds a lot of power. Misty Terrain allows Tapu Fini and its grounded allies to switch into common status-inducing moves such as Scald, Toxic, and Thunder Wave. This also allows set-up sweepers such as Mega Charizard X, Quiver Dance Pheromosa, and Volcarona to set up safely without having to worry about status conditions. Lastly, Tapu Fini also sports an amazing support movepool with options such as: Defog, Haze, Nature's Madness, and Taunt, allowing Tapu Fini to function as a fantastic filler Pokemon for many different teams and play styles.


Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Nature's Madness
- Taunt
- Defog / Scald

This set emphasizes Tapu Fini's amazing bulk as well as her supportive options. Leftovers is essential since it is Tapu Fini's only form of recovery. 52 Speed EVs investment allows Tapu Fini to outspeed defensive variants of Landorus-T while the rest of the EVs are thrown to maximize its bulk. 248 HP EVs brings Tapu Fini to a "Leftovers number" while the combination of 16 Special Defense EVs plus a Calm Nature lets Tapu Fini hit a "jump point," the remainder of the EVs are then placed into Defense. Moonblast is Tapu Fini's main STAB that hits a good portion of the tier for solid chip damage. The combination of Nature's Madness and Taunt puts a lot of pressure on defensive and bulkier Pokemon such as Celesteela, Chansey, and Toxapex which helps out popular sweepers such as Mega Pinsir and Salamence. Lastly, Defog is used to support your team with hazard removal. If hazard removal isn't necessary, Scald is recommended due to its capability to burn airborne Pokemon such as Skarmory and Rotom-W and also its siblings (the other Tapus) from switching in to override Misty Terrain.

While Tapu Fini sports numerous strengths, there are still some notable flaws that need to be taken into consideration. Tapu Fini's biggest flaw is its lack of reliable recovery for a defensive / supportive orientated Pokemon, forcing it to rely heavily on Leftovers. With that in mind, Tapu Fini is heavily threatened by Knock Off and chip damage. Once Tapu Fini reaches a low enough HP, it will be unable to check the Pokemon it is meant to check such as Greninja-Ash and Landorus-T. Misty Terrain also functions as a double-edge sword since Tapu Fini and its team will not be able to status the opposing team, which can be problematic at times.

Overall, Tapu Fini is still a very strong defensive threat in the OU tier with all of its wonderful assets. Definitely keep her in mind the next time you are team-building since she can either bring amazing support to your team or knock it down with her supportive capabilities if you battle against her.
 
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Conni

katharsis
Pawniard is an excellent Pokemon in LC with its great offensive and defensive typing and the strongest STAB Knock Off in the metagame forming a quite feared offensive presence. Its Speed is quite manageable as well and combined with its formidable move options it can be a very powerful wallbreaker, it can also set up Swords Dance to help it wallbreak easier; Sucker Punch can also help Pawniard wallbreak as it can clean weakened Pokemon fairly easy with priority moves. Pawniard can also use Stealth Rock efficiently as a secondary setter to further aid sweeping capability. Pawniard is able to check a majority of Pokemon such as most Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokemon and can wall a lot of moves thrown at Pokemon making it a very feared and viable Pokemon.

Pawniard @ Eviolite
Level: 5
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 156 Atk / 36 Def / 116 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock

Pawniard's most used and preferred set is its Standard Eviolite set.

Pawniard @ Choice Scarf
Level: 5
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Brick Break
- Pursuit

Pawniard @ Life Orb
Level: 5
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Low Sweep


Meteordash said people can do LC mons as long as they aren't banned (LC Ubers).



EDIT: dropping this due to lack of time
 
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