Wasn't cobalion's win rate relatively low recently? I guess it's been winning a lot in recent games oo
in terms of usage stats I think the mega stats were interesting, for me at least.
I've always said bee/pert/sceptile/sharpedo were the best megas opposed to aero so it's not shocking to me that the usage stats mostly reflect that. Of course, there's a huge margin of error with the win rates and I understand that, but I think those 3's extremely high win rates can't be attributed all to coincidence.
I'm extremely shocked at Sharpedo only getting 2 uses, so obviously the stats can't be conclusive of anything (though it won both games). I still think Sharpedo's one of the best megas in the tier, but I think there's reason to the usage. I feel like in a tier where recently, offense seems to run everything, Swampert would be preferred as a sweeper to sharpedo as it's a tank and sharpedo isn't. Of course, Swampert isn't undeniably better than Sharpedo because of this fact, but it's irresistible to use RD pert over sharpedo when the best mons in the tier are Cobalion, Aerodactyl, Swampert, Salamence, Krookodile, Florges, and Alakazam. Sharpedo must go for the sweep the second it comes in, or rely simply on its naturally strong-ish base speed to sweep (which can be difficult vs offense). Still, though, I see no problems getting full use out of Sharpedo. I guess I had the same issue with shark, though, considering I used swampert at least 3 times and I don't think I used sharpedo (maybe once?) I hope sharpedo sees more usage in the future in UU, it's a very capable pokemon.
As for Aero, the 40% win rate isn't shocking to me tbh. I feel like people slap that mon on any team as an excuse to check like 40 offensive threats in the tier; it's stupid what people don't run good checks for because they have aerodactyl. For example, I think it's fucking retarded when people run teams with aerodactyl as their alakazam counter. It doesnt even OHKO LO kazam with pursuit and forces some teams to sack a mon and then take a twave or 70% (or whatever) from a psychic with dactyl. I don't think aero is inherently bad but the stupid way that it's slapped on teams might be part of the reason it's not winning that much. And 40% wr isn't that bad to be fair, especially considering how many likely aero dittos there are. Regardless, I think even at its full potential Aerodactyl isn't as good as Swampert, Bee, or Scept.
Beedrill won 7/9 which is pretty impressive, but also potentially inconclusive due to the lack of games. I think also people using aerodactyl as the only "counter" to beedrill makes their teams weak to it, especially when they also use aerodactyl to check alakazam and other offensive pokemon commonly paired with beedrill. I think the reason beedrill did so well is p obvious. Ridiculously fast u-turn and pjab with adaptability and its base attack are pretty self-explanatory oo.
Sceptile's basically the same, ridiculously fast and powerful. Beedrill and Sceptile are different from aerodactyl in the sense that they have more power behind them, and less defensive utility. tbh tho beedrill's u-turn and sceptiles coverage/raw power makes them more appealing offensively. Also teal used sceptile a lot so it's not surprising it won so much
Swampert is one of the strongest and fattest mons in the tier, with only 1 type weakness. Probably the best mega imo. I prefer the rocks set but I know more commonly RD is used, probably because it finds an opportunity to set up every game, and it's extremely deadly. Rocks just sets them so easily, and 2hkos just about everything in the tier.
I've always thought blastoise was pretty bad but idk, it just doesn't provide any of the important presence that these other megas do. And even when it was decent in XY, that was when the only defogger in the tier was like gligar lmao. Its utility of removing hazards is outclassed by great utility mons like mence or potentially mandibuzz which don't waste a mega slot.
In terms of non-mega usages the only ones that stood out to me were Florges and Gyarados. I think Florges is super-bad and I always have... before the cm set it was just a bad aromatisse and now people just run florges randomly and awkwardly placed on balance/offense (the same as aero) and expect it to check every special attacker in the tier. Also I've NEVER seen cm florges actually sweep lol. Idk I'd love to hear others' thoughts on usages, especially the ones mentioned.
