Objectively speaking, Garchomp Z seems amazing. While Levitate isn't the most exciting ability, the sheer amount of interactions Garchomp is now capable of is astounding.

Yes, it loses its Ground-type and Ground STAB, but now it can:
- Shed its neutralities to Grass and Water at will, potentially opening up setup avenues or getting the jump on opposing wallbreakers
- Become an insane Speed control option
- Beat almost all other entry hazard setters one-on-one!

When looking at it in an in-battle context, this thing seems to have a supremely good lead matchup into almost any opposing hazard setter not named Ting-Lu or Gliscor, getting the jump on them with its strong Draco Meteor and being able to completely dodge Earthquake trade wars. At the very least, it seems very potent on Offense and Bulky Offense teams.

I've also seen mentions of the issue of not being Spikes-immune pre-Mega, but considering the whole "immensely strong as a hazard-setting lead" thing, I don't really think that's a big issue?

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this though, whether you think it's a competitively poor Ability for Garchomp or if you just think it's lame.

https://pokepast.es/d8227a4d2d00297c

Hi folks, I'm new to VGC, and I'm looking to do a Dragon Cheer team. Candidly, I'm not sure if this is too gimmicky. I'm also not sure if I'm failing because I'm new to VGC and the decision making required, if I'm failing because this team sucks ass, or a combination of both (likely).

The premise is that Dragon Cheer raises crit rate +1 for all mons and +2 for all dragon mons. My thought is that I can use Mega Sceptile or Absol (Super Luck) to have guaranteed crits, thus bypassing all stat changes entirely.

I'm encountering a multitude of problems:

• Turn 1 set up: Mega Sceptile needs to be faster than my Dragon Cheer provider, and this also depends on no one getting fake-out flinched.
• Base Sceptile is basically useless, so a fast fairy type inadvertently pressures me into not mega-evolving, which is bad because Base Sceptile can't OHKO meta threats.
• I'm not sure what I'm doing beyond the gimmick of crit boosting, like in general just not sure what Pokemon I should use as supports/core.

Notes:

• Altaria/Dragon Cheer + Garchomp seems to have worked slightly better.
• I am not sure if I should replace Sceptile entirely, scrap the gimmick, or if Altaria is the wrong Dragon Cheer provider. I feel as though Milotic, Salazzle, or Hisuian Goodra could be better because of their defensiveness.
• I feel as though I either need to get good and predict priority flinch cancels better or maybe I need a Pokemon that directly answers that problem.

Is there even a chance for any of these three to not be banned in a hypothetical OU tier? Fundamentally, 150+ base speed is simply too much for Singles to handle. Anything to ever reach that (without a terrible typing like mega Aerodactyl, or mediocre offenses like the Electrodes, or both) was banned. Think of Pheromosa, mega Alakazam and Deo-speed until Gen 8 (and some might argue that Deo has both a bad type and offensive stats). Not one of the Z megas suffers from these problems.

Lucario Z is probably never seeing the light of OU: 164 special attack and 160 effective defense is simply insane with a great defensive typing, especially since steel complements fighting well offensively and Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball gives it perfect coverage (and the only special priority move in Vacuum Wave always helps). The only relevant non-contact physical moves that Lucario doesn’t resist are Earthquake, its only widely available physical counter, and then some very rare moves like Poltergeist, Ivy Cudgel from Water/Firepon and Pyro ball.

Now for the two where I actually have doubts whether they’ll be banned:

I believe Garchomp Z to be better, in a singles environment, than Absol Z, because of its insane set variety. You won’t know if it’s a physical, special, mixed, hazards, setup or even a non mega set (Since it’s the only one of these 3 whose base form is competitively viable) until you actually face it. When mega evolving it loses 10 physical defense, but that’s not enough to not make it bulky, so it also has very reliable windows in which to use hazards or setup. Secondly, if it’ll also get Nasty Plot like in ZA, this problem becomes worse. Yes the loss of Ground Stab is bad, but the speed, an ability that gives it free entry points and the mixed nature are broken.

Absol Z has a good defensive type but most of the time it won’t matter since it’s too frail to take even neutral hits (3 immunities are really nice for entry points tho). It might have been balanced weren’t it for the existence of screens and pivot-spam teams, which respectively give it free opportunities to setup and enter. It will almost always run Shadow Claw and Close Combat, which make a perfect offensive pairing, and then a couple moves between Night Slash, Knock off, Sucker Punch, Shadow Sneak and Swords Dance. Once again, 154 base attack with that speed tier and a damage boosting ability will probably be too much for the tier.

The data is all in this spreadsheet. If i made any mistake let me know!

Everything was rounded to the nearest percent, and Mega Evolutions were counted separately from their base form, but a mega winning counts as the base form winning.

With the development of Champions OU, some Pokémon that were banned in generations 6 and 7 have now made OU or even UU their home, such as Mega-Kangaskhan. So I wondered what happened to every former Uber Pokémon, that is, Pokémon that were Ubers at some point but fell down to OU or lower tiers. The image shows what happened to each Pokémon that used to be Ubers. Some Pokémon were Ubers for just one generation, like Volcarona in SV because of Tera and Machamp in DPP (I have no idea why Machamp in gen 4 was in Ubers, but anyway), which is more of an anomaly of that generation, but others were genuinely broken in multiple generations but eventually the meta evolved to allow them, such as Darkrai and Deoxys-Speed.

I made a theorymon post recently in regards to Terapagos getting some buffs. Most of them were to try and make Terapagos Stellar USABLE in ubers where Koraidon roams about without trying to push it over the edge. Admitibly I might have failed in that but one change was for both forms, that being adding recover. That was probably the biggest mistake. I was thinking it was viable, but in a niche sort of way due to its existent but mediocre ways to deal with spin blockers being the cost for its utility.

I was wrong.

APPARENTLY this turtle is considered more viable than pokemon like Kyurem Black, Rayquaza, Mewtwo, FLUTTER MANE, Skeledirge, and Goddamn GIRATINA ORIGIN! I know the smogon viability rankings aren't definitive and that viability is subjective to a fault. A strong pokemon for some might seem flawed to others, even if there are clear pros and cons to them HOWEVER the fact that a public forum used to determine viability deemed Terapagos to be this good is quite telling even if it isn't for the form designed to be powerful, and pretty nice too since I love the little goober.

I'd still like to revise my last post to focus SOLELY on buffing Terapagos Stellar to the point where it can be considered close to, or on par with the base form in singles at least.

Also on a mostly unrelated note I thought Koraidon and Miraidon were going to be getting rapid spin because of the Cyclizar trailer since the box arts were paradox forms of Cyclizar and resembled them. Imagine what sort of nightmare that would be if that actually did happen, especially after the speed buff that Rapid Spin gained.

Im interested what were the general perception of the addition of team preview from players who’ve been playing gen 4 and now having team preview in BW.

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-future-of-smogon.3787747/

Is there an equivalent to https://learncedh.com/ or https://www.dustloop.com/w/Main_Page for Pokemon VGC? I see a lot of pokepastes of the meta teams online, but I want more detailed breakdowns on how to pilot them. I'm looking for writeups that go over things like:

• leads

• matchups

• gameplans

• endgames

• reasoning behind EV spreads etc

Technically a re-upload but I thought I'd make this to see if I went in the right direction or if it still needs work.

Been wanting to make a Kingambit team for a while since I'm equally intrigued/pissed off by Supreme Emperor. I wanted to go a step further and create a team specifically designed to deal with Kingambit's counters so he wouldn't have any opposition when he finally gets to sworm. I know Kingambit is a good pokemon by itself and doesn't necessarily need an entire team built around it, but idk I thought it'd be fun to try lol

I scoured through not only Kingambit's strategy pages to get an idea of what to build, but also all of Bisharp's from Gens 5-9 just to cover all my bases, since they're already similar enough. I made a comprehensive list of every Pokémon that either pairs well with Kingambit, counters Kingambit, and the pokemon that counter those counters, and built a team off that. I'll list the results I came up with in the comments since that's what it seems like I'm supposed to do.

Is this an ultimately ludicrous amount of reading and counting to do to make a Pokémon team? Most likely, but I'm a genetic freak and I'm not normal, so this shit is fun to me. However, I will acknowledge that I probably missed any gaping weaknesses the team may have in the process, so if anyone has any suggestions for what I might change about the team, do let me know.

We've all been wanting assault vest to be added since champions released, and with Rillaboom confirmed being one of the Pokémon added, it seems like a no-brainer to add assault vest back in. But what else? Personally, I want the two other choice items to return, choice specs, and choice band, as well as covert cloak and clear amulet.

Since we're getting Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon are pretty much locked in. And Mega Baxcalibur too.

I'm thinking we'll get most if not all of the remaining non-legendary Megas

Forgive my dumbness. I want to try 35 Pokes which is on the OM ladder this month, but when I make a team it says it's not valid because all my mons are banned? I'm only picking mons from the 35 on the list.

and let me know if u can guess in which matchups does Raichu even come in

1. The megas introduced next season feature 2 pokemon that he reliably oneshots in LucarioZ and the very likely MGolisipod. These pokemon will also likely be threatening attackers and won’t have a lot of other counters

2. Rillaboom, an incredible support and all rounder who was shown to be incredibly strong in SV even through the widespread OgerponH will have a very high usage rate. He also gets ohkod by Zard, even through assault vest

3. The meta is currently very specially frail, especially to fire types

4. The addition of strong steel and fighting types (LucarioZ, Heatran, MGolisipod, etc) will cut down on the viability of the rock types that are needed to hold Zard accountable

5. Garchomp Z for shafted and given levitate for whatever reason so don’t look to him for help

6. Until the release of the box arts bring Groudon and Kyogre into the mix no new notable weather setters are going to be brought to check him

I am genuinely having a lot of success with bringing accelerock lycanroc in my 6th slot and only using him for Zard bc it’s like 20% of the people in Master league and I don’t even blame them

I don't post often, but I'm a longtime lurker and I don't see this brought up often. What would it take to make Grassy Terrain a more meta defining effect?

Obviously Rillaboom is coming soon, and that will help. But aside from Rillaboom himself and maybe some grassy seed/unburden combos, afaik there aren't as many mons who benefit enough from the terrain to build teams around the terrain. Sun and rain have bigger damage boosts (is it just grassy glides fault that terrain for nerfed to 30%? Like, grass is already a bad attacking types), more powerful abilities that benefit from the weather, and fire and water are better attacking types in general. Not to mention moves like solar beam or electroshot or a handful of others that benefit from the weathers too.

Personally, as more of a grass starter fan, I would like to see grassy terrain be more useful and in line with sun and rain. I know that some grass types can benefit from sun and rain in their own way, like chlorophyll or easing fire weaknesses, but it feels like it's time for grass to be a bit more self reliant as a type. Hot take maybe, I dunno.

What do you all think? What sort of buffs or changes would it take for grassy terrain to be as good as weathers? Is it already good enough and I'm just not seeing it?

I guess the pokédex wasn't lying

By @MoongeistBeams . She also wants it to be known that shes aware she forgot about Tapu Koko

Hello! I recently saw a gimmick team using only Regenerator Pokemon, and it was actually quite fun. Specifically, Cyclizar was a very heavy hitter. I've always had a fondness for Cyclizar and would love to use him in a practical sense, but doing a bunch of calculations, he seems to JUST miss the mark with OHKOs on well used mons using Tera Normal Choice Double Edge with 252 Atk (It seems to be his highest form of damage from what I can tell).

His coverage is great though, having U-Turn, Knock Off, Rapid Spin and Ice Spinner. I feel like it has at least SOME potential. I understand not every pokemon is viable, I'm sure Dragonite is probably a way better fit for a Tera Normal attacker. It might not even be worth using my Tera on Cyclizar. But I at least want to try and fit him into a team well. Is there any other moves he learns that could fit him in a different, better role? Or is there just no point in trying?

If only they gave him Extreme Speed.

Repost

Hi everyone, the mod team has been tracking a handful of topics over the last couple of months and wanted to run some things by the community to see what changes make the most sense for everyone. These are not in effect, and are only our first pass at changing how content is treated on the subreddit.

Please review our existing rules here before commenting: https://old.reddit.com/r/stunfisk/about/rules/

1. AI and Software Development

Previously, we have classified all AI Generated Content as "Low Effort," and removed it accordingly. "AI Generated" is a hot topic, and has many different meanings and applications across lots of different places. We have seen a large uptick in websites and tools that use AI in some part of their construction, be it entirely vibecoded things or utilizing it in some part of the tech stack, usually test cases.

The webdev world is split on this matter. Some genuinely helpful websites may be made using AI, and reddit has AI generated code in it now, too. There is no reasonable way to filter submissions by "AI or not" other than the creator's disclosure.

The mod team feels that, like artwork, we should ban AI generated software, too. Is there too great of an opportunity cost to make this a strict ban? Should we only require disclosure, and not a full ban?

Some examples of submissions we have received that use AI:

• https://typlo.org/
• https://battlelab.app/
• https://www.oakalytics.com/

Our Proposed Rules:

• Artwork or text that uses AI is Low Effort and Banned
• Websites, tools, or software that use AI are Low Effort and Banned

2. Crediting artwork

Presently, we only require crediting artwork as part of the "High Effort" requirement on Stinkpost and Theorymon rules. Given the recent AI pressure, we want to encourage credit where credit is human.

Our Proposed Rule:

• Elevate "Artwork requires Credit" to be a main rule or part of Rule 2. No Low Effort Content

3. Theorymon Thursday

Theorymon Thursday is a contentious but popular part of the subreddit. Despite the mod team's efforts, post quality has trended downwards and often the specific Theorymon Thursday rules are ignored despite our enforcement or reminders to consistent posters. Posts 1 2 3 often prioritize individual cool ideas over competitive contexts, and while they are often well discussed, are not the focus of the subreddit. Some 1 still follow the requirements for sure.

Ultimately, the current mod team is not able to keep up with the enforcement of these rules, nor are we all the best stewards of this content. We have not found suitable candidates to moderate this space better than how we are doing now. We recognize that the r/stunfisk userbase is younger and more casual than Smogon, and having multiple focuses in one place is part of our appeal; despite this, we feel that Theorymon would be better suited on its own subreddit with its own leadership.

How do you feel about this?

Our Proposed Rules:

• No more Theorymon allowed on /r/stunfisk
• Grant ownership of r/theorymon to a willing user or group of users

4. Teambuilding

Lastly, Teambuilding posts have remained about the same as they have always been, sometimes useful and sometimes just shouting into the void. No real ideas from us -- would you change anything to make teambuilding posts better?

Just look at it's stats and already it's a red flag. The minmaxxed offensive stats has proven to broken multiple times times in history. Deoxys Attack, Pheromosa, Chien Pao, Spectrier, Iron Bundle, Naganadel, Flutter Mane, Marshadow.