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October 2018 Tier Changes


Senile

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Due to this being the first "real" movement change since the update fully implementing most moves/abilities/items, there are a lot of tier shifts this month, including a few quickbans. With that in mind, here are the shifts:

 

Moving up from UU to OU:

 

  • Breloom
  • Cofagrigus

 

Moving up from BL to OU:

 

  • Kingdra
  • Haxorus
  • Chansey

 

All of these pokemon were above the 4.36% cutoff for usage in OU.

 

Moving up from NU to UU:

 

  • Houndoom
  • Sigilyph

 

Moving up from BL2 to UU:

 

  • Gligar
  • Venomoth

 

All of these pokemon were above the 4.36% cutoff for usage in UU.

 

Moving up from UU to BL:

 

  • Bisharp

 

Bisharp was already a prominent UU threat before the update, but now that Defiant works properly, it has become outright absurd. It punishes Defog absurdly hard, and without Team Preview, the opponent doesn't even know if they should play around it until it's too late. This was already a cause for concern, however, the usage movements mean that its best offensive check, Breloom, is getting moved up to OU. This pretty easily pushed it over the top; Where there might have been room for deliberation beforehand, its already insane presence along with the loss of one of its most highly used and effective answers makes it obviously too good. With that in mind, Bisharp is banned from UU.

 

Moving down from OU to UU:

 

  • Snorlax

 

Snorlax dropped below the 4.36% cutoff for usage in OU. 

 

Moving down from OU to BL:

 

  • Mamoswine

 

Mamoswine dropped to UU by usage, however, the TC decided to quickban it from UU. Ultimately, it is likely far too effective to be allowed in UU. Although its oldest and most reliable counter Bronzong is in the tier, that's the most UU can easily do to handle it. It is fast, strong, has good STABs, and Ice Shard as priority. Other than Bronzong, defensive answers struggle with Mamoswine, and offensive checks are similarly sparse due to speed + priority. Things like Heracross and Typhlosion can outspeed and kill it easily, but they can't really afford to switch in a majority of the time. Most EQ immune pokemon that would be able to punish reckless EQ usage also have trouble with Ice Shard/Icicle Crash, with things like Flygon & Crobat not really being able to do much, despite an immunity to his main STAB.

 

Beyond that, the most reliable answer, Bronzong, is both easily trapped by Magneton & easily worn down due to a lack of easy and reliable healing, such as Recover. Beyond that, most other answers suffer from either being unreliable in some way or leaning really hard on predictions, meaning any time Mamoswine comes in he'll force a hard 50/50 situation. Ultimately, due to Mamoswine's strength in dealing with both defensive threats with his raw power, and offensive threats with decent speed & Ice Shard, Mamoswine has been quickbanned from UU.

 

Moving down from UU to BL2:

 

  • Blaziken

 

Blaziken dropped to NU by usage, but it has been quickbanned from NU. Even just using its 2 main Physical STABs, Superpower/HJK & Flare Blitz, it can easily tear apart most of the tier while also outspeeding a large majority of threats. The few things that aren't torn apart by those 2 moves can easily be handled by one of the many coverage options Blaziken has, between options like any Hidden Power, Night Slash/Shadow Claw, Tpunch, Stone Edge, etc., all of which it can easily afford to slot in due to the coverage Fire/Fighting provides. This isn't even acknowledging the base 110 special attack Blaziken has available to it, as we're only discussing the Physical set; It's simply too strong, and more importantly, versatile on top of that.

 

With that in mind, Blaziken is quickbanned from NU.

 

Murkrow banned from LC:

 

One of the most contentious LC pokemon as the metagame has developed is Murkrow. Although Misdreavus stood out at first to many players, and it still remains an insanely versatile and splashable threat, the sheer strength Murkrow has is unrivaled. Base 91 speed is enough to match/outspeed almost the entire tier, while having some of the highest mixed offenses available. Not only that, but it has a good typing and an absurd movepool, being capable of doing basically anything that it wants. Even without Prankster, it can just run through most of the tier, while being very difficult to predict/scout. At the end of the day, it does too much & it does it too well. With that in mind, Murkrow is banned from LC.

 

Additionally, although Misdreavus is still in LC, the TC will be looking at it following this ban.

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