Mont conveniently ignoring SuperGeist, which is still the most reliable defensive spinblocker we have :/
Just as we gained two great Defoggers, Fletchinder leaves, great timing Linda >.> That said, with Fletchinder's departure and the fact that Shiftry is an offensive Chlorophyll sweeper with hazard removing capabilities, this shift would mostly likely herald
the comeback of Sun.
The loss of Uxie and the arrival of these two Dark-types have tipped the balance of available Fighting + Psychic + Dark mons in the tier; I expect
Sawk to thrive incredibly well in this meta due to the reduced number of responses and increased number of targets, and it just so happens that the newcomer Dark-types provide Defog support to maintain its Sturdy while giving Psychic-types hell. Hell, Skuntank alone will be sufficient in pushing back the wave of dominant Psychics with Pursuit and its neutrality to basically all of their moves bar Hidden Power. Skunk does have a bit of 4MSS though.
While I said that Psychic-types will be curbed, I still expect them to be partnered alongside Skunk because of their respectable synergy. Skunk would most likely be leading the charge of
Dark + Fighting + Psychic cores once more. The combination of this core is just so tricky to defend against that I expect
offensive teams to be even more popular in order to deal with the core.
This thing is going to be excellent. It's one of the few mons that can break the Fighting / Dark / Psychic core with little risk to itself, and the two Defoggers being great alongside it and whatnot. Previously it synergizes well with Claydol since Claydol can deal with bulky Rocks, Poisons, and Steels and whatnot, but now Shiftry is available as a more offensive hazard remover that punches massive holes alongside Scyther or even function as a lure.
Now for the drops themselves...
Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 - 4 Atk / 4 - 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely / Mild Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off / Dark Pulse
- Sucker Punch
- Defog
The tried and true mixed set; Shiftry simply relies on its dual STABs to tear house into the tier, and both of its STAB moves are stronger than Cacturne's as well (even 4 SpA Leaf Storm outdamages 252+ SpA Giga Drain), albeit with a weaker Sucker Punch, but having the second strongest priority in the tier still isn't bad. Shiftry can go mixed either way: physically inclined Shiftry can spam the strongest Knock Off in the tier and blow away most Dark resists with Leaf Storm, while specially inclined Shiftry packs a wicked strong Leaf Storm and can hammer most Grass resists with Dark Pulse. Sun sweeper Shiftry would probably opt for Solar Beam or even Leaf Blade as their main Grass move.
Hitmonchan @ Life Orb / Black Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch / Close Combat
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Punch / Foresight
- Mach Punch
Already this is outclassed offensively by Sawk and Gurdurr, so Chan needs Rapid Spin to be able to stand out. Iron Fist Mach Punch is the next biggest asset Chan has, and more Mach Punch users are admittedly welcome in NU. I gave Chan this particular EV spread because I felt that Chan's Speed tier was too awkward to consider running full Speed investment for, so I just aimed for creeping threats; this particular spread outspeeds Adamant offensive Torterra so that it can be Ice Punched. I put the remaining EVs into Defense as opposed to its Special Defense as Chan didn't resist anything specially relevant, whereas the defensive investment improves Chan's
ability to take Knock Offs.
This is probably Chan's most interesting advantage over the other Fighting mons in the tier; most other Fighting-types detest losing their item or simply incurring the damage, but Chan's access to Drain Punch means it can shrug off Knock Off to a decent degree.
Anyone who's played BW NU knows the swiss army knife of a Pokemon that is Skuntank. QoL already presented a more specialized Pursuit trapping Skunk so I'll just go through Skuntank's list of moves instead. Between moves such as Pursuit, Taunt, Sucker Punch, Poison Jab, Defog, Punishment, and even Memento, Skunk can usually find itself a place on most teams. While Skunk has a less than favorable matchup against the Rock-type Stealth Rockers, it makes up for it with its bulk, finding easy Defogging opportunities against Psychic-, Ghost-, and Grass-types. Zeb is probably right that fitting both Defog and Pursuit on the same Skunk would be a bit much, and Skunk does suffer mild 4MSS as it can't perform as many roles as it wants with just 4 attacks, but Skunk is pretty customizable as it can be tweaked to suit many teams' needs. I expect Skunk to be just as anti-meta in the time being as much as it would be an influential force in the future meta.