Not Good Enough For Monotype

Art by Iyarito.

Introduction

While Monotype and standard tiers have many similarities in commonly used Pokémon, it would be foolish to assume that just because a Pokémon is good in OU or UU means it would be good in Monotype. These Pokémon all fit a specific role in their respective standard tier and are good enough to be big players in the metagame. However, many of these high-tiered Pokémon simply aren't good enough for Monotype due to their typing, lack of a niche, or unviability due to better options. Throughout this article, we'll take a closer look at Pokémon tiered as OU, UUBL, or UU and discuss why they fail to function in Monotype.

OU

Amoonguss

Amoonguss is a very bulky Pokémon that can utilize Spore and Stun Spore or additional bulk with Assault Vest while benefiting from recovery with Regenerator, making it a solid defensive choice for many teams. Unfortunately for Amoonguss, it is completely outclassed on both Grass and Poison by Mega Venusaur, which shares its typing and has superior bulk combined with Thick Fat, allowing it to effectively check many Ice- and Fire-type coverage users in the metagame. Mega Venusaur's Thick Fat is crucial for Grass-type teams, as it is one of the only effective checks to Ice- and Fire-types and the team is otherwise easily mowed down by them. While there is less pressure to check Fire- and Ice-types for Poison teams thanks to Toxapex, it is still an amazing defensive Pokémon, pairing very effectively with other Poison-types. Additionally, unlike standard tiers, there is no opportunity cost in running Mega Venusaur, as the other Mega Pokémon available for both Grass and Poison are rather lackluster. Given that Mega Venusaur is a staple on both Grass- and Poison-type teams, there simply isn't room to run Amoonguss. Its one niche, being Spore, is largely outclassed by Breloom, which acts as a faster Spore user that can immediately take advantage of it with Swords Dance while providing other benefits for the team such as Mach Punch. Amoonguss's low Special Attack and poor offensive movepool also mean that it cannot dish out much damage, giving it no unique niche to either of these types.

Hawlucha

Hawlucha in OU is a very potent attacker and setup sweeper. It pairs amazingly well with one of the Tapu group, benefiting from immediately activating its ability, Unburden, when using one of the Terrain seed items. Unfortunately, in Monotype, it is not able to utilize this benefit. While it can provide the same niche of an Unburden sweeper, it has to rely on the old Sitrus Berry tactic to activate Unburden. Its low bulk means that it is easily KOed before it can effectively set up in a majority of situations. This set can still be rarely seen on hyper offense Flying teams and some select Fighting teams, but it is typically outclassed as both a setup sweeper and offensive Pokémon on both types. Flying typically opts for Pokémon with more immediate power and coverage such as Choice Band Dragonite and Mega Aerodactyl rather than Hawlucha. Fighting, on the other hand, has a very hard time fitting Hawlucha onto the team, as it struggles to have adequate coverage options to cover typical offensive and defensive threats. Its one niche on Fighting teams is to run Defog in order to remove entry hazards, helping its team immensely against types that utilize Sticky Web such as Bug and Rock.

Mega Alakazam

At the beginning of Generation 7, Mega Alakazam was the go-to Psychic Mega Evolution used on most teams, being able to utilize Trace to check several opposing Pokémon such as weather sweepers as well as benefit from Beast Boost to sweep. However, back then its only competition for the slot was Mega Slowbro. Throughout the course of the generation, Mega Alakazam has seen less and less usage due to the release of the remainder of the Mega Stones. As of now, it simply cannot keep up with the other Megas available to Psychic such as Mega Gallade, which is a potent wallbreaker notably helping with the Dark and Steel matchups, and Mega Latias, which is a great defensive setup sweeper able to take on a plethora of types such as Flying and Electric. On top of the added competition, it also comes at the opportunity cost of not being able to run regular Alakazam. Alakazam is typically run as a blanket check to threatening physical attackers such as Mega Sharpedo and Alolan Muk with its Counter set, removing many troublesome Pokémon that largely threaten Psychic.

Tangrowth

Tangrowth is a great team option in OU, acting as a physical sponge able to switch into a plethora of attacks. However, in Monotype, none of these benefits are enough to warrant a team slot. Its pure Grass typing leaves much to be desired, as it doesn't grant any additional resistances for its teammates, being redundant with other defensive options such as Mega Venusaur, Ferrothorn, and even Cradily. Although it does have the benefit of Regenerator, which may seem appealing, it cannot effectively take on threats to Grass teams more so than its teammates are already able to. Additionally, its lack of good offensive options prevents it from offering anything unique to the team that other teammates don't already provide. Unfortunately for Tangrowth, its lack of a beneficial secondary typing prevents it from being effective in Monotype, leaving it completely unranked on the viability rankings.

Tornadus-T

In OU, Tornadus-T is a pretty good team option, being able to function as an offensive entry hazard remover and fast pivot with access to a strong Flying-type attack to take down opposing Pokémon. However, it does not offer much to Flying Monotype teams. First off, while its high Speed and ability to work as a pivot is appreciated, it doesn't provide any great offensive utility to Flying. Hurricane is its only powerful attack and lacks any beneficial coverage to help out Flying with common threats such as Electric- and Rock-types. Additionally, its lack of a good special movepool aside from Heat Wave means that it's outclassed by other special attackers such as Mega Charizard Y and Thundurus, both of which help Flying immensely with a wide variety of types. Tornadus-T's one unique benefit is its access to Knock Off, which helps Flying more easily deal with Eviolite users such as Chansey and Porygon2 as well as opposing Choice Scarf users. Unfortunately, this benefit is not enough to warrant Tornadus-T a teamslot compared to other more generally useful Pokémon. Additionally, an offensive Defog user is not appreciated on Flying teams, as the immense pressure to keep Stealth Rock off of the field requires a more reliable and defensive hazard remover such as Mantine, Skarmory, or Zapdos. While Tornadus-T can fit on some specific builds, it is hardly used in Monotype, rarely seen on Flying teams.

UUBL

Conkeldurr

Conkledurr was originally banned from UU due to its decent bulk coupled with high Attack, boosted even further by Guts and Flame Orb. Its incredible power left very little switch-ins to its powerful Drain Punch and Facade combination, while its low Speed was made up for with Mach Punch. However, in Monotype, its lack of coverage and low Speed hold it back immensely. While it is powerful, Monotype features a large number of Pokémon that resist its typical moveset. Fairy-, Poison-, and Flying-types such as Azumarill, Toxapex, and Skarmory are very prevalent in the Monotype metagame, being able to take on its STAB attacks. Its pitiful base 45 Speed means that it's also outsped by the majority of the metagame, being immediately threatened and easily revenge killed by Pokémon that do not fear Mach Punch. Additionally, it tends to be redundant with other potential teammates without offering any secondary benefits. Heracross is another Guts user that provides great coverage and helpful Bug-type STAB attacks. Breloom is a powerful Mach Punch user that also helps out in the Water matchup and provides Spore utility. Mega Gallade is a wallbreaker with a beneficial part Psychic typing. Unfortunately for Conkeldurr, it simply isn't good enough to compete with the other Fighting-types available.

Salamence

Salamence was one of the first bans in the UU metagame, being quickbanned at the beginning of the generation. It acted as a powerful setup sweeper with Dragon Dance, along with either Intimidate or Moxie, as well as having the ability to fire off a powerful Supersonic Skystrike to blast past some of its common checks. While it could technically perform this same role in Monotype, it pales in comparison to the other Pokémon available on either type, most notably losing out to Dragonite as competition. Dragonite shares the same typing as Salamence, but it doesn't typically act as a setup sweeper. Instead, it is usually run as a Choice Band wallbreaker with great coverage options, powerful priority, and defensive utility with Multiscale, acting as a great blanket check to a large portion of the metagame. On Flying, there isn't room to run a setup sweeper on the team, as the type usually goes for powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Charizard Y and Dragonite along with a defensive backbone. At the beginning of the generation, Salamence did see use as a setup sweeper on Dragon. However, once Mega Altaria was released, it lost its niche as an offensive setup Pokémon, as Mega Altaria performs the same role and provides a very essential Dragon-type immunity for the team.

UU

Mega Aggron

Mega Aggron is in an unfortunate predicament in Generation 7 Monotype. In Generation 6, it was legal on both Rock and Steel. However, with the transition of generations, an additional rule was added to Monotype restricting Megas to types that preserve their typing. This means that Mega Aggron is no longer legal on Rock teams, as it loses its Rock typing upon Mega Evolving. Mega Aggron simply does not offer anything unique to Steel teams. It may be a great defensive option in UU, being able to wall a large number of common threats, but in Monotype, it stacks common weaknesses and doesn't offer any unique coverage options. Pokémon such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Celesteela already fill in the role of defensive walls while helping with specific matchups difficult for Steel such as Water, Fighting, and Ground, respectively. Additionally, using Mega Aggron would come at the opportunity cost of not being able to run Mega Scizor, which is a very potent setup sweeper and priority user, assisting Steel with a plethora of matchups.

Raikou

Raikou may be a decent setup wallbreaker in UU, but it fails to do anything unique for Electric Monotype teams. Its main features, including high Speed, decent Special Attack and bulk, and access to Calm Mind, may all seem appealing, but it has two major flaws. First off, its pure Electric typing leaves much to be desired. A lack of a secondary typing prevents Raikou from having any additional offensive or defensive benefit, leaving it worse than other pure Electric-types such as Mega Manectric and Xurkitree. Secondly, it has a very unfortunate movepool. Raikou is reliant on its STAB attacks to do notable damage, which makes it redundant with most other teammates. Its lack of good coverage options means that it does not offer a way of dealing with Pokémon that Electric typically struggles with, which is opted for when choosing non-core team members. Raikou's one useful coverage move is Extrasensory to help deal with Mega Venusaur, which is very tricky for Electric to deal with. However, the pressure of dealing with Mega Venusaur is lessened by Alolan Raichu as well as Supersonic Skystrike Thundurus. In the end, Raikou is outclassed by Pokémon such as Mega Manectric, Thundurus, and Magnezone, all of which help greatly with not only specific matchups but also in the majority of matchups.

Starmie

Starmie is a great offensive spinner for UU teams with a wide array of coverage options; however, it unfortunately fails to function for either Water or Psychic Monotype teams. Its very mediocre base 100 Special Attack means it is easily walled by most common specially defensive Pokémon while also being outclassed as a special attacker by Pokémon such as Keldeo and Mega Latias. Its potential niche in acting as a hazard remover is largely outclassed as well by Pokémon such as Latios and Mantine. Additionally, Psychic teams have no real use for an offensive Water-type, as the type is not easily threatened by most Pokémon weak to Water. Instead, Psychic teams tend to opt for Slowbro, a defensive Water-type able to take advantage of its physical bulk to wall a large number of Pokémon, such as Scizor and Victini, and provide utility with Thunder Wave. On Water, one might initially think Starmie has a niche of helping with Mega Venusaur and other bulky Poison-types that Water typically has issues with. However, it is completely walled by Alolan Muk, which always switches in on Starmie and does a huge blow with Pursuit on the switch out. All of these issues prevent Starmie from having any real role on either Psychic or Water.

Special Mention

Deoxys-D

Deoxys-D is a special mention, banished from OU into the realms of Ubers. It was originally banned from XY OU as a dedicated bulky hazard lead for hyper offense teams, guaranteeing setting hazards against slower teams while being fast enough to Taunt opposing leads. However, in Monotype, Deoxys-D is simply outclassed by other options for Psychic teams, failing to even be ranked on the Monotype Viability Rankings. On hyper offense teams, another Uber Pokémon, Deoxys-S, is the lead of choice, as it outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame and is able to effectively set hazards, set screens, use Taunt, and utilize Knock Off. Deoxys-D's lack of a secondary typing means it also does not offer any unique resistances that may be useful for its teammates, preventing it from having any other niche. Even if it were to act as a bulky hazard setter and utility Pokémon for non-hyper offense teams, it would still be outclassed by other options like Jirachi, which offers a plethora of additional resistances due to its Steel typing. Deoxys-D's one niche could be to run a Pressure stall set similar to Suicune; however, the lack of Toxic Spikes support as well as its low HP, meaning Substitute is broken by Seismic Toss, prevents this set from being effective.

Conclusion

Even though these Pokémon see great usage in the upper Smogon tiers, they all fail to provide anything unique or beneficial to Monotype teams. Whether it be a lack of a good movepool, a lack of a beneficial secondary typing, or simply being outclassed by other options available to their respective type, all of these Pokémon aren't worth much in Monotype. Just remember when building a Monotype team, a Pokémon may be good in standard tiers, but that doesn't mean it's good in Monotype!