Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread

I hope this isnt the wrong thread to ask, but where can I learn about the different kinds of badges on the forums?
 
In OU, is Sucker Punch still worth it On Cinderace, or is another coverage move more beneficial? Spectrier is now banned, which was a major usage of Sucker Punch. Cinderace also has a decent Speed Tier, outspeeding major threats. However, it is outsped by Dragapult, which has some usage. It also can KO a weakened Regieleki, Barraskewda among others. So, is Sucker Punch still worth it On Cinderace in OU today, rather than other coverage moves?
I hope this the right thread also, but I think it is.
 

Finchinator

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In OU, is Sucker Punch still worth it On Cinderace, or is another coverage move more beneficial? Spectrier is now banned, which was a major usage of Sucker Punch. Cinderace also has a decent Speed Tier, outspeeding major threats. However, it is outsped by Dragapult, which has some usage. It also can KO a weakened Regieleki, Barraskewda among others. So, is Sucker Punch still worth it On Cinderace in OU today, rather than other coverage moves?
I hope this the right thread also, but I think it is.
It is still viable for things like dragapult, which is quite common right now, and it also picks off other Pokemon. However, it will be less common and a bit less effective than before. Other options have plenty of merit.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
been away from the game for a long time but what makes aegislash and blaziken not only OU, but also not S or even A in viability this gen?
Blaziken doesnt like the metagame and how a lot of bulky waters and other Pokemon like Moltres are around. The metagame isnt kind to it. There are alot of situations, which lead to Blaziken being not great in OU this gen. When it runs Jolly, it misses out on crucial power, when it runs Adamant it misses out on Speed. Also its best STAB is Flare Blitz and without anything to heal off the recoil Blaziken suffers alot from recoil damage and gets worn down easily.

Aegislash has competition in other Ghots-types, bei it Gengar, Dragapult, or even Spectrier. Also the latter, Spectrier, turned the metagame upsidedown with people having to run Blissey, Hydreigon, Mandibuzz, Obstagoon and Tyranitar, which Aegislash really dislikes, as these Pokemon do not only check Spectrier but also are overlapping checks to Aegislash.

In conclusion:
Blaziken and Aegislash dislike the metagame and the metagame isn't kind towards them, with Spectrier gone however I feel Aegislash at least could make a slight return as a Ghots-type pick.
 

Red Raven

I COULD BE BANNED!
been away from the game for a long time but what makes aegislash and blaziken not only OU, but also not S or even A in viability this gen?
Aegislash, and other ghosts in particular, had to compete with Spectrier, who was banned just a few hours ago. There was almost no reason to use any ghost that wasn't Spectrier or Dragapult because Spectrier basically forces you to run a normal or dark type on your team while Dragapult became a very solid non scarf Spectrier revenge killer

It's the lack of z moves. Blaziken before can brute force its way past its counters like Fini, Slowbro and Toxapex with z thunderpunch but since there are no more z crystals, it cannot kill them in one shot even after swords dance unless considerably chipped and those counters would kill Blaziken with their water type stab,. Also, Toxapex and Slowbro are still as common as ever so that's already an issue in of itself. It also needs +2 speed to be a major threat because it's speed is still only eighty. Well, that's my interpretation at least
 
I'm new to OU, so I had wanted to ask how do you use Dragapult. What support does it require? What is its role? And more importantly, what kind of team styles does it fit in?
dragapult is actually quite versatile and pretty splashable on most teams; it has several roles depending on the set, the most popular currently being the pivot/status user that can also revenge kill hex variant. This set appreciates other teammembers that can status opponents(so poison, burn, para), as well as a bulky backbone that dragapult can safely pivot into. A good example of this would be toxic toxapex(but really any wall with twave/toxic works, so hippo, bulky toxic chomp/lando,scald slowbro....).

It can also be somewhat of a breaker with the specs set(even though with spectrier leaving that set lost a bit of its niche). All in all dragapult can be used on almost any team structure
 
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I'm fairly new or returning basically from forever ago to PS battling. One thing I am often having difficulty with is predicting what moveset the enemy mom might be running. Is there any sort of guide or way to make educated guesses based on the other mins they're running?
 

Zneon

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I'm fairly new or returning basically from forever ago to PS battling. One thing I am often having difficulty with is predicting what moveset the enemy mom might be running. Is there any sort of guide or way to make educated guesses based on the other mins they're running?
There is a guide about it in an article -> https://www.smogon.com/articles/getting-started

This tells you everything you need to know like predicting, but also team preview and making progress against those teams, team archetypes, what those usually use, etc. And as for predicting another person's moveset, you cannot predict that they are always going to bring that, but you can make sure that it's the most likely set that they will use from the strategy dex. -> https://www.smogon.com/dex/ss/formats/ou/
 
I'm fairly new or returning basically from forever ago to PS battling. One thing I am often having difficulty with is predicting what moveset the enemy mom might be running. Is there any sort of guide or way to make educated guesses based on the other mins they're running?
Zneon gave some good tips, I would just like to add a few:

You can always watch some of the games others are playing! it might help to notice common team structures if you don't also have to focus on your own play; also you can see double the amount of sets in a game, since you are not looking at your own sets. Some of the current sources of games to watch are:
1. Smogon premier league(or SPL for short), a tournament where the best players compete. This tournament can be a bit different from ladder since it's conducted by people who know who their opponent will be and so they can focus more on certain builds, since they have a vague idea what the opponent could be up to, but it's still a great place to find very current builds, as the games are very competitive. Replays are here:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spl-xii-replays.3676213/

2. Official smogon tournament(or OST for short), another tournament, this one with a larger amount of players. It seems to me to be a very good source of information, as players have less idea what they are going to face, and have to prepare accordingly. This tournament also has more out there builds, so it might be easier to see some less common sets there. not sure if theres a replay thread, but some games can be found in this forum:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/official-smogon-tournament.463/

3. OU team tournament. a 3v3 team tournamen(3v3 as in 3 players playing singles, not actual 3v3). Replays can be found scattered around in this thread:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/overused-team-tournament-round-1.3677445/page-5#post-8745673

IMPORTANT NOTE: spectrier just got banned so the meta might differ a bit from those replays to your games, you should probably watch for new games that will come out later

4. Showdown has a feature to watch random games, which you can set the ELO of(so if you just wanna watch high or low ladder you can do that)

Another thing is that you can make scouting easier for yourself in the builder by using regenerator mons, as they can get damaged much harder and still be usable thanks to regenerator keeping them up with smart switches. good examples for this are slow brothers and pex(seriously, i have regularly seen pex intentionally take 80% hits from future sight and swap out and continue to be useful). So if you got a regenerator mon and it takes like 60% chunk to scout a set, it will not be as hard to bring out later since regenerator will bring it back up. A decently popular core I have seen lately is slowbro/glowking/corvi(first 2 have regen), and I think this core will be even better after spectrier's ban
 
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Does Indeedee (m or f) have a tangible niche over Tapu Lele atm? I guess theres the ghost immunity but being neutral to fighting sucks.
 

Katy

Banned deucer.
Does Indeedee (m or f) have a tangible niche over Tapu Lele atm? I guess theres the ghost immunity but being neutral to fighting sucks.
It doesnt really have any niche over Tapu Lele as Fairy/Psychic is a great Dual-Typing from the get go and it has the necessary coverage to break past Steel-types with Focus Blast. Tapu Lele offers a decent Speed tier as well. And even in the so called Psychic-spam teams Tapu Lele with Terrain Extender can just progress as the better supporter for Pokemon like Expanding Force-Alakazam. I don't think the niche for either of the Indeedee will be that great to warrant as a support for any archetype in OU. Tapu Lele just does everything better.

I hope that helped :)
 

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