I would like to gather some of your thoughts regarding a specific Pokemon that's shaping the Metagame right now :
Kingambit @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Flying / Fire / Dark / Fairy
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Kowtow Cleave
- Iron Head / Low Kick / Tera Blast
We need to talk about Kingambit.
Who can confidently say they've never been reversed swept by a single Kingambit ?
While this Pokemon in itself seems easy to deal with while building your team, you all know that you won't click Earthquake nor Close Combat safely against him with your Great Tusk.
Indeed, the unpredictability of Kingambit's Tera Type leads to undesirable gameplan conditions that will bait you into choosing the wrong strategy :
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Will-O-Wisp users such as Volcarona, Cinderace, Skeledirge, Rotom and Dragapult are all denied by Kingambit's
Tera Fire
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Super Effective Attacks in Earthquake, Close Combat, or other moves are twisted into Resistances by Kingambit's
Tera Flying or Fairy
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Defensive Options in the form of Dondozo, Iron Defense Corviknight or other defensive strategies relying on Teracristallization can be overwhelmed by Iron Head's Flinch, Critical Hits and by Kingambit's
Tera Dark
While it's true you can force the opponent to use their Tera and then adapt to the Kingambit's variant, it is not difficult for a smart player to first wear down your whole team to put it in range of a +2 Kingambit, and then attempt to set up their Kingambit with a preserved Tera against your would-be check.
Though, Kingambit is prown to Trick Users in Rotom, Iron Valiant and Gholdengo, fears Spore from Amoonguss, Breloom or Brute Bonnet and has to avoid getting consistently crippled by eventual Hazards and sheer burst from Specs Dragapult's Draco Meteor or Gholdengo's Make it Rain.
Kingambit can also be surprised by Low Kick users such as Meowscarada or Kingambit itself, and Choice Specs Iron Valiant is a solid choice to Revenge Kill it due to its x4 resistance to Sucker Punch.
Kingambit seems important in the current Metagame as an offensive option to check Dragon / Ghost Typed attacks, it is very splashable on any team thanks to its typing allowing him to freely come in Defensive Pokemons such as Toxapex, Slowking or Amoonguss.
Over the last 5 SPL Weeks (Post Chien-Pao Ban), only Kingambit has managed to maintain positive Win Rate (above 50%) with a decent top 3 usage and tends to become the 2nd most used Pokemon of this tournament after Great Tusk.
Knowing new Pokemons will be added soon, there's no time for a new Suspect Test.
However, regarding the metagame in its actual state I definitely think it has the making of a Suspect-Worthy Pokemon.
Now I would like to know the following about your thoughts :
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What do you think about Kingambit in the current Metagame ?
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What are your ways to deal with Kingambit in most of your teams ?
Thanks for your attention !