DPP Ubers musings

So initially I was going to try and take the first step in reigniting my attempt to do a Farceus PR post by doing section 1 where I go through the shambolic 2020 vote. The plan was to do it in sections over multiple blogs, and once I have enough material I can post it to PR. Unfortunately, the last few weeks has just been a rollercoaster emotionally/mentally and I'm only just getting better now so I've had no motivation to write about Farceus. #iykyk Anyway I'm sort of back, I'll do something relatively quick. I think I'll finally do a bit of a trashpost on lead Ogre like what I did with Giratina-O. Again, like Gira-O, I absolutely respect what Kyogre can do as a lead and it definitely has a place in the lead metagame, it just has some serious issues that you have to be careful of and is not as easy to just slap onto something as you might think. Anyway - let's talk about the good things about lead Ogre first. Firstly, it has multiple sets it can run so it's...

  So I've been kind of teasing this entry for a while now and I've finally got my ass off the seat to write about it. If you hang around DPP Ubers circles these days you'd probably see me trash Giratina-O every so often like I trash Ekiller in other gens. Am I just trolling? The answer to that is absolutely yes. I have to add the disclaimer that I still absolutely respect Giratina-O's place in the DPP Ubers metagame and what it adds to a lot of teams. That being said, like what I do with Ekiller, I exaggerate my disdain for it when it gets glazed (although a lot of the time Gira-O is not getting glazed and I'm pushing my frustrations at it after certain unimpressed turns of Pokemon). I will get into Gira-A closer to the end too but this is more about Gira-O, and part 2 would be detailing my quest to find replacements for Gira-O on teams where it doesn't fit as well (spoiler alert - there aren't any good replacements but some very niche ones that could be int...

 Just so this never gets lost gahahahaha https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/dpp-ubers-serve-and-volley-classic-deo-s-wobbray-sun-ho.3761533/

 As we approach the end of UWL, I'd like to share one mon that has pleasantly surprised me. Last time I wrote about Ice Arceus - that thing I had and still has potential but I overcooked with that. It's only fitting that we now talk about a mon that probably about 6 months ago I had firmly at the very bottom of C- rank sitting alongside buddy Heracross. That mon is big Metagross! So to be fair, I had some ideas of Metagross coming over the last year and one of them I managed to bring to tours. It had mixed success (will talk about it when we get into the sets). Historically, Metagross was actually rated pretty highly back in 2009-2010 era, when it was firmly a decent Steel that can be used switch into Dragon moves and then do a big hit afterward. It was even a decent SR lead for a time. Popular sets back then were fattish lead or fattish support with SR/Meteor Mash/Boom + either Bullet Punch or Earthquake and CB. Agility was seen from time to time but even then most people didn...

So I was going to do an expose on Giratina and Giratina-O and the deficiencies they leave in DPP Ubers, but that's a big undertaking and I've recently just moved house and I've had no time. In the meantime, UWL has been going and I've admitted been doing pretty badly mainly seeing as I'm playing Farceus. Heads turned when I brought Iceceus vs Seldanna in week 1, so I'm going to do a bit of a plug (and also caution) for Iceceus. So the set I used for my Iceceus team was: Arceus-Ice @ Icicle Plate   Ability: Multitype   EVs: 100 HP / 100 Def / 100 SpA / 100 SpD / 100 Spe   Timid Nature   IVs: 0 Atk   - Substitute   - Calm Mind   - Ice Beam / Judgment - Recover Lets get the downsides out of the way - this thing is walled by Kyogre in general and is weak to Rocks and still takes Spikes and Tspikes damage. It still gets destroyed by lots of Steel-types which means it's pretty easy to stop. So why use this? The main appeal ...

 Alright, so here's a 2nd blog. Let's talk about Toxic Spikes absorbers. In terms of mechanics, Toxic Spikes absorbers must be grounded Poison types (AKA can't have a Ground-immunity) and they remove Tspikes. Note that Tspikes absorption happens at the SAME time as when other entry hazards are applied, so you can keep your 1HP Sashed Poison type and switch it in later to absorb Tspikes even if Rocks or Spikes are up. Things that benefit from Toxic Spikes absorption tend to be bulkier setup sweepers or grounded SubPinch berry mons that are not Poison immune. Examples would be: - Double Dance Groudon with Leftovers - SubSD Groudon - Calm Mind Kyogre sets that don't have Rest - SubCM Giratina-A - SubSalac Garchomp - SubDD Kingdra - SubProtect 2 attacks Palkia Note there are also certain Pokemon that actually partially benefit from 1 layer of Toxic Spikes specifically - the best example of this is Calm Mind Recover Mewtwo because it can then set up on Blissey and avoid gett...