Tier List update October 2016

[Tyrone]

I will announce the Tier list changes of October in this thread.

These changes are made according to the Usage gathered from 5th September - 1st October

The tables can be seen here: (The cut-off point is 4.36%)

 

A list of this months Tier Changes:

 

• Moving down from Over Used to Under Used (OU -> UU)

Typhlosion
Note: With a usage of just over 4%, Typhlosion has dropped down to UU and will be allowed in the tier. The meta seems to have plenty of checks to Typhlosion in the form of Slowking, Miltank, Altaria and others, such that the Tier Council believes it would probably not be Uber Offensive.

 

• Moving down from Over Used to Borderline2 (OU -> BL1)

Feraligatr
Note: Feraligatr is quick banned to BL1 because it simply is a much stronger version of Crawdaunt. More innate bulk, higher speed, better defensive typing as well as access to Ice Punch makes for a recipe which is too good not to use.

 

• Moving up from Never Used to Under Used (NU -> UU)

Ninetales

Glalie

 

Additionally:

 

• Little Cup:

Diglett is being banned from Little Cup. The sheer amount of speed, coverage and attack combined with Arena Trap has proven to be a lethal combination in Little Cup and the Tier Council believes it deserves a ban.

Gastly will receive a public Discussion thread. 
 

• [OU Discussion] Snorlax: 

The Tier Council has decided to not ban Snorlax at this moment. Votes in favor of a ban did not outnumber the votes against the ban.  
 

 

• [UU Discussion] Kangaskhan: Suspect Tested for one month.

Kangaskhan is receiving a suspect test ban for one month, as result of the unhealthy / over-centralization

For a more detailed explanation please read the spoiler below.
 

Spoiler

 

After much discussion, Kangaskhan has been unanimously voted to be unhealthy for the metagame, and will therefore be test banned for ONE month to determine whether this is accurate.

 

Kangaskhan is unique in that it has many different roles that it is able to play, and play well. It is able to be a special wall, a fast sweeper, a bulky sweeper, and a wish passer. Sporting the extremely efficient normal typing, Kangaskhan only takes super effective hits on the special side from hidden power fighting, which is scarce in the UU meta. Kangaskhan has 2 methods of reliable recovery in rest and wish, rest being the preferred option in tangent with Early Bird (1 turn rests) allowing it to become a nifty status absorber. One turn sleep also prevents kanga from becoming set up bait. Because of this ability you cannot wear down this wall with toxic like you would with Quagsire, plus you cannot permanently cripple it with burn or paralysis as it cures the status at its leisure when it rests. While Altaria can do this as well with rest and natural cure, Kangaskhan has a great base attack stat of 95, meaning that it is able to threaten out the special sweepers that it walls with stab return or double-edge, earthquake or fire punch. Want to run a Scizor to take out Kangaskhan? Nope, Kangaskhan can outspeed you with little investment and packs 4x supper effective fire punch. Kangaskhan can also run Choice band sets or life orb sets in a more offensive manner. The natural bulk that it has with 105 80 80 defenses let it switch on or non stab attacks and because of base 90 speed, threaten out most threats with its massive move pool.

 

Because all of the versatility that Kangaskhan has, people have devoted multiple team slots for potential switch ins to Kangaskan and still not been able to completely neutralize it without using their own Kangaskhan. How much Kangaskhan dominates the UU tier is shown by the September usage. Kangaskhan reached 42.66% usage, and has been the most used Pokémon in the tier for months. Kangaskhan is a full 10% higher usage than the next most common Pokémon, Altaria.

 

It is no surprise that team building often starts with 1 of 2 things: Kangaskhan, or an answer to kangaskhan. For these reasons, we're going to test out a Kanga-less UU metagame for a month and see if it frees up the tier a little bit more, allowing for more creativity in team building and letting some other special walls/tanks get a chance to flourish. Please pay careful attention while building and playing in this meta, and feel free to post and discuss the changes in the UU Viability thread.

 

For all these reasons, the TC has decided to test ban Kangaskhan for one month.

 

 

 

 

• [UU Discussion] Sceptile: Quick banned to Borderline.

Sceptile is being banned to Borderline (BL) under the Uber Offensive Characterstic.
For a more detailed explanation please read the spoiler below.

 

Spoiler

 

For quite some time, Sceptile has been a top UU threat. After dealing with it for several months, we now know exactly what this pokemon is capable of and how it can pressure even the most experienced opponents. At the beginning of a duel, the Endeavor set provides amazing support to any team that is planning to break through once the opposing special wall has been removed. The Leech Seed set can be a constant nuisance through out a duel. The SD set might not be very common, but remains deadly. This is especially true if the opponent expects taking special damage, sends a pokemon bulky on the special side and ends up taking unforgivable physical damage.

 

More importantly, the mixed Life Ball sets have been able to both break walls and sweep consistently. Thanks to its nearly unmatched speed and unprecedented coverage, Sceptile can prevent nearly all pokemons from switching in with 2HKOs or OHKOs. A few pokemons have the bulk to not get 2HKO by Sceptile, but usually these pokemons don’t have x4 resistance to grass which mean Sceptile can heal up on them thanks to Giga Drain (boosted by Life Ball and Overgrow) recovery. We see a lot of momentum plays around this mechanic since Sceptile is able to heal itself up while the opponent is forced to use recovery moves to stay alive. This means that Sceptile can eventually use Focus Punch when the opponent is expected to heal up and that will guarantee the kill on Cradily or Kangaskhan.

 

Altaria + Scizor cores are basically the only thing capable of handling the mixed Sceptile sets once HP has been scouted. However, scouting against a Sceptile that could potentially play Leech Seed or Endeavor is quite risky. Furthermore, forcing Sceptile to reveal its HP and keeping Altaria + Scizor healthy is no easy task. Altaria and Scizor are both indispensable to check other threats beside Sceptile. We often see Altaria being forced to switch on Steelix/Donphan CB or Scizor Impish that has to switch on Armaldo Rock Blast, Cradily potential HP Fire or Crawdaunt. One bad prediction early on in a duel can cost a player dearly; a weakened Scizor + Altaria core is at risk against Sceptile at the end of a duel.

 

For all these reasons, the TC feels Sceptile fits Offensive Uber characteristics and will banned from UU to BL.

 

 

• Tier Council Recruitment: 
  I'd like to announce two new Tier Council members. @Rigamorty and @DaftCoolio have been selected to join the Tier Council.
  Thank you to all the players who have applied for the position as well.
   

Thank you to all players who have participated in this month's Competitive Events and Ranked matchmaking, we hope to see even more battles in the coming month!