Metagame Pokébilities

100% of ladder people like except me have used excadrill..............

.....and the ladder is so bland because literally everything is a sand team (if not the inferior rain.)

And im the only one using this
upload_2017-1-3_12-32-43.png

SD paired together with its cool abilities, Unburden|Mold Breaker|Limber.

Although i feel that this thing is kinda inferior of other more powerful fighting types, being a lone set up sweeper among the fighting types serves as its niche.
This thing also sports a cool speed tier, and unburden lets it beat faster threats like ursaring which is one hard stuff to stop, although it doesnt directly beat faster mons 1v1, and must be played well. Mold breaker also breaks through things like clefable, which is probably the only Hawlucha counter present at the early meta, since stuff like skarmory is pretty bad, and i dont see much electric types,plus im the only one using slowbro-mega to counter excadrill. With those said Hawlucha must still be played at the right moments of the match.

A team around this peaked me in a ladder where every game is however very similar. And it's just an early one, and please do something about sand though im not really troubled by it :(. It's just sad that everybody has it as their core of the team, which I believe takes the creativity out of this meta, and I only have seen few effective teams with non-sand cores in the ladder. But hey that's just my opinion. Others might see the meta differently.

After all this is a fun one well deserved as the omotm :D.
 
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100% of ladder people like except me have used excadrill..............

.....and the ladder is so bland because literally everything is a sand team (if not the inferior rain.)

And im the only one using this
View attachment 76004
SD paired together with its cool abilities, Unburden|Mold Breaker|Limber.

Although i feel that this thing is kinda inferior of other more powerful fighting types, being a lone set up sweeper among the fighting types serves as its niche.
This thing also sports a cool speed tier, and unburden lets it beat faster threats like ursaring which is one hard stuff to stop, although it doesnt directly beat faster mons 1v1, and must be played well. Mold breaker also breaks through things like clefable, which is probably the only Hawlucha counter present at the early meta, since stuff like skarmory is pretty bad, and i dont see much electric types,plus im the only one using slowbro-mega to counter excadrill. With those said Hawlucha must still be played at the right moments of the match.

A team around this peaked me in a ladder where every game is however very similar. And it's just an early one, and please do something about sand though im not really troubled by it :(. It's just sad that everybody has it as their core of the team, which I believe takes the creativity out of this meta, and I only have seen very few effective teams with non-sand cores in the ladder.
Yup, it's true. The ladder already feels so stale. It's all sand, with a smattering of rain and hail. There's weather, there are wrecking balls like Conkeldurr, Cinccino and Pory-z, and a few intimidate/moxie sweepers and... that's about it. I think the main problem is that there are a few mons that benefit tremendously in this meta, but the vast majority of mons just have niche or useless abilities, or ones that don't provide enough of a boost to compete with the aforementioned mons.

The funnest thing about other metas for me is just browsing the list of pokemon for interesting ability (or whatever the meta's gimmick is) combinations that a mon gets, but here it already really just feels like there's very little room to innovate. Occasionally you get something vaguely interesting like Lanturn where you see that it can have two immunities, and that's cool, but it's not gonna make Lanturn good in Standard OU, much less here.
 
Yup, it's true. The ladder already feels so stale. It's all sand, with a smattering of rain and hail. There's weather, there are wrecking balls like Conkeldurr, Cinccino and Pory-z, and a few intimidate/moxie sweepers and... that's about it. I think the main problem is that there are a few mons that benefit tremendously in this meta, but the vast majority of mons just have niche or useless abilities, or ones that don't provide enough of a boost to compete with the aforementioned mons.

The funnest thing about other metas for me is just browsing the list of pokemon for interesting ability (or whatever the meta's gimmick is) combinations that a mon gets, but here it already really just feels like there's very little room to innovate. Occasionally you get something vaguely interesting like Lanturn where you see that it can have two immunities, and that's cool, but it's not gonna make Lanturn good in Standard OU, much less here.
Well, because of the meta's concept, everyone has that in their mind: to use any pokemons whose greatly benifit their abilities altogether, like Clefable, Excadrill and Sand Streamers, thus to reduce creativities.

Which is why I end up top 5 in the ladder, because it's too easy to understand the meta, but not with weather teams, because it's too overrated lel.
 
Well, because of the meta's concept, everyone has that in their mind: to use any pokemons whose greatly benifit their abilities altogether, like Clefable, Excadrill and Sand Streamers, thus to reduce creativities.

Which is why I end up top 5 in the ladder, because it's too easy to understand the meta, but not with weather teams, because it's too overrated lel.
Yeah I think the problem is that the vast majority of abilities are shit, and if a pokémon is lucky enough to get a good ability, then it's very likely that their other abilities are shit. The pool of mons that actually have multiple useful abilities is minuscule, man. :'( So the Pokemon that are in that tiny pool are amazing, and everything else is terrible. I absolutely agree with banning drill, kinda meh on the veil abilities. But even if you remove the worst offenders, I can't help but feel like the same problem will exist: there just aren't that many interesting ability combinations.
 
Excadrill, you really need to chill.

You have a base 135 Atk with a STAB EQ/Iron Head that get boosts from Sand Force in Sand. Getting a Swords Dance up in Sand makes Iron Head the equivalent of hitting with a base 312 Atk (80 x 1.5 x 2 x 1.3) and EQ is the same as a Tackle if Tackle had a base Power of 390. Like seriously. Even without a Swords Dance or Item, this still hits harder than using a Giga Impact o Eruption at full health with just Iron Head, while EQ hits just under the base power of Self-Destruct.

If that wasn't enough, you also got to be faster than Sonic the Hedgehog and the Flash's love child. With Max EVs, you're outspeeding god damn Doexys-S at max speed. That's already too fast. Then add Jolly, and you're outspeeding Michael Phelps in Sand (Requiring the top 7 fastest non-megas to run scarfs or be at +1). Get Adrenaline Orb for when that Gyarados comes in and light itself is noticeably slower. Shedninja would need to get 2 protects in a row to just outspeed you.

You know, this wouldn't be all so bad. I could have brought Bronzong or even Rotom-Wash into the fight, but nope. Why should immunities from this monster power exist when you can just Mold Breaker that Levitate away. Or ignore Quagsire's unaware, which is easily 2HKOed anyways.

I really hope this meta gets cured of Early-Obvious-Canceritous soon. This meta looks really fun and significantly healthier without a tanky nuke that travels at the speed of light.
 
Well, there's still plenty great pokémons even if they don't benefit with the meta:
-Alakazam and its Mega ->Revenge killer, Wallbreaker
-Kartana -> SD user, Revenge killer, great to check almost all weather teams
-Tapu TROLOLO Lele -> Wallbreaker, Revenge killer, stop priorities
-Tapu Bulu -> SD user, defensive, wallbreaker, great pokemon to check sand teams
Etc.
 
Well, there's still plenty great pokémons even if they don't benefit with the meta:
-Alakazam and its Mega ->Revenge killer, Wallbreaker
-Kartana -> SD user, Revenge killer, great to check almost all weather teams
-Tapu TROLOLO Lele -> Wallbreaker, Revenge killer, stop priorities
-Tapu Bulu -> SD user, defensive, wallbreaker, great pokemon to check sand teams
Etc.
That's all true, but what makes this meta worth playing then? It's just OU with extra cancer (Drill, P-Z, etc.). Even if you remove the cancer, it's OU plus maybe like Krookodile and Cinccino and Conkeldurr (probably part of the cancer actually). Poison Heal Breloom hits slightly harder. Azumarill eats grass moves. Gyara and Salamence are slightly more scary. There's really not that much else that's worth using. On the other hand, I had a shitty day so maybe that's like warping my judgement of the meta, who knows.
 
Might be an unpopular opinion but I don't think we should quick-ban Excadrill yet. Even though the megagame is super young people are adapting nicely to Excadrill. Wether it's running Dugtrio, Conkuldurr, Azumarill, Breloom, Landorus-T, Gliscor, Celesteela or simply not giving Excadrill switch ins under sand, its not nearly as effective as you would think.
 
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I've been trying this guy out lately. Has been working like a charm for me. (Also you might want to replace Knock Off for Aqua Jet, and make it more bulky if you like)



Carracosta @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Liquidation
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
 
Might be an unpopular opinion but I don't think we should quick-ban Excadrill yet. Even though the megagame is super young people are adapting nicely to Excadrill. Wether it's running Dugtrio, Conkuldurr, Azumarill, Breloom, Landorus-T, Gliscor, Celesteela or simply not giving Excadrill switch ins under sand, its not nearly as effective as you would think.
Yeah, quickbanning is fine for some stuff, but I think we should wait for Excadrill, or at least do a suspect. Remember when everyone thought Pheromosa was broken cancer and be quickbanned in OU? It's still great now, but can be handled just fine if you know what you're doing.
 
Just how busted Ursaring is going to be in this meta!

Give it a Flame Orb, this will activate both Guts AND Quick Feet. Added to that you have an insane STAB-Status boosted Facade which has an effective power of 315. Earthquake and Crunch can round off its coverage.

Magnezone also gets a neat little buff with both Sturdy and Magnet Pull.

A-Marowak also gets a great buff, now it gets 3 immunities and no recoil damage from Flare Blitz!
 
I've been saying sand in general is goin To be a problem. Sand > Rain imho. Sand like I said earlier, actually has checks/counters that can switch into common pokes like Conk(pex or clef), Azumarill(Heilolisk, pex, quag and maybe even Cacturne), Pory Z?(better have HP fighting or Tar is going to smack you with stone miss or pursuit trap) etc. I can go on how truly inferior Sand is vs Rain, Sun, and Hail.

Also, Mega bro can effectively be used on sand too. "B-but sand force eq"

252+ Atk Life Orb Sand Force Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 146-173 (37 - 43.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage
 
I've been saying sand in general is goin To be a problem. Sand > Rain imho. Sand like I said earlier, actually has checks/counters that can switch into common pokes like Conk(pex or clef), Azumarill(Heilolisk, pex, quag and maybe even Cacturne), Pory Z?(better have HP fighting or Tar is going to smack you with stone miss or pursuit trap) etc. I can go on how truly inferior Sand is vs Rain, Sun, and Hail.

Also, Mega bro can effectively be used on sand too. "B-but sand force eq"

252+ Atk Life Orb Sand Force Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 146-173 (37 - 43.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after sandstorm damage
What point are you trying to make exactly? How exactly is Sand inferior to the other weathers? Especially hail? Hail got a few new toys to play with this gen, but it's still the weather with the least amount of options and most restrictive team building. Also how does this calc prove anything? One of the best physical walls in the game can take a powerful physical move, good to know.
 
with all this excadrill talk, reminder:


Pelipper @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- U-turn
- Scald
- Hurricane

Drizzle+Rain Dish allows peli to be both a decent switch in to halt sand teams and an unexpected offensive threat at 95 spa and access to scald and an accurate hurricane. Obviously weak to rock but he definitely helps vs sand spam.
 
I've been saying sand in general is goin To be a problem. Sand > Rain imho. Sand like I said earlier, actually has checks/counters that can switch into common pokes like Conk(pex or clef), Azumarill(Heilolisk, pex, quag and maybe even Cacturne), Pory Z?(better have HP fighting or Tar is going to smack you with stone miss or pursuit trap) etc. I can go on how truly inferior Sand is vs Rain, Sun, and Hail.
What point are you trying to make exactly? How exactly is Sand inferior to the other weathers? Especially hail? Hail got a few new toys to play with this gen, but it's still the weather with the least amount of options and most restrictive team building. Also how does this calc prove anything? One of the best physical walls in the game can take a powerful physical move, good to know.
If you read the first sentence, when I obviously stated that sand is a "Problem" and is unarguably more easier to use with little risk(hence why it's inferior IMO). Basically, my point is sand(mostly excadrill) just might need some type of suspect, nerf or whatever. As for slowbro-mega, I was just simply showing sand teams has answers for almost anything everyone has claimed to "check" sand very well, including opposing sand teams(this is basically why i showed the calc :p). Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.
 
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Laxpras

One small yeet for man, one giant yeet for mankind
Should Ditto be copying all of the abilities of the impostered mon? It seems like it should, but it doesn't.
 
I'd point out that shell smash crustle has a niche in here. With weak armor and sturdy, it is guaranteed to survive a hit (so it can use shell smash without dying), and gets increased speed if the hit is physical. I am running it with rest and lum berry so I can prolong crustle's life.

Also, Conkuldurr gets 3 boosting abilities: sheer force, iron fist, and Guts.
 
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So hey, I decided to make a stall team, since everyone loves stall ehrm I mean to find counters to most threats in this OM.
So first of, I wanted to put all major threats in a list:

OFFENSIVE THREATS:


Ok, I know there are many others but hey, this list looks pretty solid.

DEFENSIVE THREATS:



Same case here. I know, there are alot more, but I'll explain in a bit.

So, in my honest opinion, these guys got a (major) buff due to Pokébilities. This doesn't mean the others aren't viable. For example Chansey stays a defensive threat even though it couldn't profit alot from Pokébilities.

Do you think I'm still missing a Pokémon here above? Please let me know!

NOTABLE MENTIONS:



Yeah I'm finally done. I might have missed some, I might have added some too many. Anyway, please notify if you want to see a change in any of the lists above.

So now back to the threats. I'll be having a report on all of them sepperately to see how usefull they are and how they can be stopped.


Excadrill @ Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Together with Conkeldurr the biggest threats in Pokébilities. Sand Rush combined with Sand Force gives EQ, Iron Head and Rock Slide amazing power and Life Orb buffs that even more. Oh, and don't worry about stuff like Rotom anymore. Mold Breaker handles that for you. Possible counters would be Celesteela, Mega Slowbro, Flying types with Intimidate. Also a Pelipper might work.



Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry / Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off / Superpower / Waterfall

Ah another lovely threat. Ehm Azumarill. Has already shown to be a great Pokémon in other tiers, same goes for this one. Besided the Huge Power buff it can now absorb Grass-type attack with sap sipper and raise it's attack! Which means it has one weakness less. Also Thick Fat makes it resist Ice and Fire moves better like it didn't already. Counters to it are Quagsire (Bewear of Choice Band), Mega Venusaur (There isn't really much else), Toxapex and Clefable.
Also Tapu Lele can block it from using Aqua Jet.



Porygon-Z @ Normalium Z / Choice Specs / Choice Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball / Tri Attack
- Conversion / Nasty Plot / Dark Pulse
- Thunderbolt / Psychic / Psyshock
- Ice Beam

One of the revelations in this gen. Porygon-Z with Z-Conversion is an amazing set and together with a Download boost. And guess what, also in Pokébilities it is an absolute beast. Now it also keeps it Adaptability boost (For Tri Attack) And also gets a boost from Analytic if it moves last. As you can see there are many choices to make, so alot of sets will work with it. Counters to Porygon-Z are Chansey, Blissey, Clefable, Physical Scarfers. Most physical pokemon that outspeed it or have priority can also handle it.



Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 240 HP / 16 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up / Poison Jab / Fire Punch
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
- Mach Punch

Broken or not broken? We don't know yet. All we know is that this fellow will destroy your team if you don't watch out. It has 3 amazing abilities, probably the best this Pokémon can have. Guts increases it's attack and protects it from losing attack stat. Also Iron fist gives it's punching moves (and it has alot of them) With quite alot of power. And there is also Sheer Force, which adds more power to it's attacks, since most of them have a secondary effect. Also Poison Jab is to hit annoying Fairy Types such as Clefable. Possible Counters are Faster Flying types such as Yanmega and Togekiss, Tapu Lele, Clefable (For both watch out for Poison Jabs) And there is also Slowbro Mega which pretty much walls it

252+ Atk Guts Conkeldurr Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 116-138 (29.4 - 35%) -- 13.2% chance to 3HKO


This is it for now. I'm going to add my Stall team and the other Pokémon tomorrow. I'd appreciate it if you guys could add more things, give critique/tips and might suggest some changes/removal. Thanks!
 
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So, everyone's talking about sand, but I've been running a very successful Sun team that has been able to handle excadrill, dugtrio and sand in general just fine. It all centers around Tapu Bulu. By setting up grassy terrain, it weakens ALL EARTHQUAKES, meaning bulky waters or other pokemon that resist steel can easily check excadrill. I'm using gastrodon, who can take anything most sand users give and KO back (still waiting for that cacturne counterpick tho). I haven't had a problem with samd yet and all chlorophyll sweepers appreciate a powered up grass type moves (solar beam, giga drain, etc.) as well, just putting out ridiculous damage.

I've seen the rare Tapu Lele but you can usually get a terrain up on the field for 8 turns, giving ample time to switch around to appropriate counters/sweepers. Give Tapu Bulu a try, you'll be surprised!
 
252+ Atk Iron Fist burned Conkeldurr Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 54-64 (13.7 - 16.2%) -- possible 7HKO (Probs stronger since it dint count Sheer Force and Guts buff)
I'm sorry but idk what kind of potato you used to calc but the correct calc is this.

+1 252+ Atk Zap Plate Sheer Force Conkeldurr Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 208-246 (52.7 - 62.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Treat +1 as Guts boost and Zap Plate as Iron Fist boost. So no, it doesn't wall.

Pokebilities Conkeldurr actually is a Fighting version of Gen 6 Mega Mawile. It works in a very similar way, except worse defensive typing. It's a slow bulky mon that hits everything hard and it has a strong priority. I would wait before I call it broken though.
 
I'm sorry but idk what kind of potato you used to calc but the correct calc is this.

+1 252+ Atk Zap Plate Sheer Force Conkeldurr Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 208-246 (52.7 - 62.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Treat +1 as Guts boost and Zap Plate as Iron Fist boost. So no, it doesn't wall.

Pokebilities Conkeldurr actually is a Fighting version of Gen 6 Mega Mawile. It works in a very similar way, except worse defensive typing. It's a slow bulky mon that hits everything hard and it has a strong priority. I would wait before I call it broken though.
Ah sorry, I didn't know how to calculate with 3 abilties. But thanks though.
 

drampa's grandpa

cannonball
is a Community Contributoris a Community Leader Alumnus
The main problem with the original calc was that the burn reduced your power rather than increasing it, which alone puts you at about 1/3 the power.
 

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