phantom
Banned deucer.
Electric types have been dominating the tier throughout post DLC-2 RU, and Thundurus stands out as arguably the most dangerous among them. With fantastic offensive stats and a near-flawless movepool, Thundurus can run two very strong sets: Nasty Plot and Knock Off pivot. Its fantastic speed tier puts it above the majority of the unboosted meta, while its incredible coverage allows it to deal with any would-be switch-ins, making both sets extremely dangerous in the current meta. Thundurus has defined the tier in its ability either break teams with Nasty Plot or endlessly spam Knock Off with its pivot set. With the addition of Heavy Duty Boots, Thundurus can make use of that alongside it’s great typing and decent bulk to find switch-in opportunities against threats like Togekiss, SR Cobalion, SR Metagross, and defensive threats such as Klefki and Crobat. This gives Thundurus some sustainability throughout the game since it doesn’t have to worry about Stealth Rock and can utilize its defensive typing to find the occasional switch-ins or sponge priority attacks such as First Impression. Many of the Pokémon Thundurus can take turns off of are staples in the tier themselves, which assures that Thundurus isn’t always dependent on team support to get in.
Nasty Plot sets consisting of Thunderbolt / Focus Blast / Psychic | Sludge Bomb have very few checks in RU. Once it sets up, Thundurus can tear apart entire defensive cores singlehandedly. Certain defensive pivots such as Diancie and AV Reuniclus are capable of holding it off, but have the potential to be worn down into range or overwhelmed throughout the course of the match. Nasty Plot sets are also capable of running Prankster Thunder Wave in the last slot, which trades coverage for a stronger matchup against offensive teams, crippling would-be revenge killers such as Scarf Mienshao and Noivern. The pivot set, arguably just as dangerous as Nasty Plot if not more, takes advantage of the dearth of Knock Off absorbers in the tier. Pivot Thundurus runs Thunderbolt / Knock Off / U-turn / Grass Knot with Heavy Duty Boots. Many of the tier’s best Knock Off absorbers, such as Cobalion, fold to Thundurus and the few that may not, such as Sylveon, become less effective without Leftovers. With the tier being centralized around boots, this makes pivot Thundurus one of the most troublesome attackers. Pivot Thundurus is also capable of crippling the few checks to Nasty Plot such as AV Reuniclus and Diancie. The combination of an extremely fast Knock Off + U-turn makes it very difficult to pin down the pivot set, as it’s almost always assured to cripple something and then freely pivot out to the appropriate response.
While Thundurus can make itself last throughout the match with Heavy Duty Boots, its lack of recovery and middling defenses make it possible to limit switch-ins, even threats such as Togekiss, which Thundurus can normally get a switch-in or two from, are capable of wearing it down with coverage. Though some sets occasionally sport Prankster Thunder Wave, more often than not, Thundurus is heavily dependent on its coverage to make any progress due to its lack of boosting item, which makes it prone to being revenge killed by faster threats. There are also several offensive counter-measures to Thundurus. Raikou in particular is a top tier threat capable of holding off every set, while other Electric-types such as Xurkitree and Toxtricity have good one-to-one matchups against Thundurus. Zygarde-10% is also a bit of a roadblock, as it discourages Thundurus from freely spamming Electric attacks and is immune to Prankster Thunder Wave. Even limited, Thundurus checks do exist for both sets, which combined with offensive pressure, can be argued to be sufficient enough to hold it off.
GXE | minimum games |
78 | 50 |
78.2 | 49 |
78.4 | 48 |
78.6 | 47 |
78.8 | 46 |
79 | 45 |
79.2 | 44 |
79.4 | 43 |
79.6 | 42 |
79.8 | 41 |
80 | 40 |
80.2 | 39 |
80.4 | 38 |
80.6 | 37 |
80.8 | 36 |
81 | 35 |
81.2 | 34 |
81.4 | 33 |
81.6 | 32 |
81.8 | 31 |
82 | 30 |
Suspect information:
- Due to low turnout from the previous suspect, the minimum GXE has been scaled down to 78. Ideally, we’d like to use a higher threshold for suspect requirements, but the RU ladder doesn’t quite have the activity to warrant it. After this suspect, we may look at adjusting the requirements in the future if needed.
- There will be no draws allowed for any potential qualifiers. If you qualify with draws, your suspect requirements will not count and you will not be allowed to vote. There is no way to actively enforce ties to prevent abuse, so they will be disallowed. Use stall at your own risk.
- All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! RU ladder on a new alt with the following format: "RUT8 (nickname)”. For example, RUT8 cornpop or RUT8 ruthkanda.
- Do NOT impersonate other people in your ladder alt, do NOT use any usernames which are offensive, flame-baiting, or targeting specific users, and do NOT use usernames which could be interpreted as breaking any of the username rules on Pokemon Showdown! Failure to abide to this will result in you being barred from voting in this suspect, and potential infractions.
- The suspect test will last for 10 days, ending on Monday, February 1st @ 11:59 EST.
song: