WOOOOOOOOOOOOO
RIP ARCHALUBOZO
This is a good start to addressing the matchup fishy issues in the tier.
View attachment 605382
Winners
View attachment 605383Dragonite’s matchup vs Rain was awkward because of Archaludon discouraging it from clicking E-Speed. With that gone, Dnite becomes a better overall pick vs or even on Rain.
View attachment 605384Finally Lando doesn’t have to run fucking Earth Power. It is a good time to point out that
with 4 Atk EVs and an Adamant nature, Lando OHKOs standard Raging Bolt with EQ after rocks.
View attachment 605385 View attachment 605386Meowscarda + Weavile can throw out their STABs without worrying about boosting Archaludon’s defense. Weavile can rkill several threats with Ice Shard like Roaring Moon, Dragapult, and Raging Bolt, so encouraging more usage of it will be more beneficial for the meta.
View attachment 605387Wogre’s mu vs Rain is even more dangerous. The ban also allows Wogre to freely run Play Rough instead.
View attachment 605388Monke no like Bridge. Because Monke no can click Wood Hammer. Monke like ban very much.
View attachment 605389No longer walled by Archaludon, Gking’s rain matchup becomes better.
Losers
View attachment 605390View attachment 605391View attachment 605392It shouldn’t be a subtle indicator that banning Archaludon hurts Rain alot. Treads may especially take a hit from this. However with the tools that Rain has rn, it will still remain a solid archetype, but not the single best archetype in the tier.
View attachment 605393Hippowdon may still have a niche even after Arch leaves, but it was also the main reason it was even ranked in the VR.
Some other winners and losers include.
+ Sun who appreciates the nerf to Rain.
+ Ting-Lu who is less likely to get worn down by Archaludon before Raging Bolt comes in.
- Clodsire who has less reason to be on Balance teams and has bad matchups into alot of things but will still be good due to its traits.
+ Manaphy who no longer has a crazy good check via Archaludon and could take its place as a wallbreaker.
+ Hoodra might unironically accompany a small niche thanks to the addition of Knock Off and amazing bulk all-around, but doesn’t have anywhere near the horsepower Archaludon did.
+ Hydrapple who appreciates one less Dragon being in the tier and also may appreciate higher usage of Wogre and Rillaboom.
My next post will be quite a
meta analysis. So stay tuned for that.