PU Says Goodbye to Magmortar and Archeops

Art by h_n_g_m_n.

Introduction

Throughout PU's lifespan, both Magmortar and Archeops have proven to be among the tier's deadliest wallbreakers. Magmortar was a formidable offensive threat due to its sheer power in conjunction with its fairly expansive coverage in moves such as Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, and Earthquake as well as its access to Taunt making it difficult to check defensively for teams that lacked extremely niche Pokémon like Carbink and Sliggoo. Discerning which set Magmortar was running from Team Preview alone was near impossible due to its versatility, which gave teams an even harder time dealing with it. Archeops, despite being nowhere near as versatile, was still seen as overbearing due to its high Attack and Speed, powerful STAB Acrobatics, good neutral coverage in Stone Edge and Earthquake, reliable recovery in Roost, unpredictability in regard to what it was running as its last move, and access to Taunt giving defensive teams a harder time dealing with it consistently. Archeops had very few reliable defensive checks, with the Pokémon that could switch in well like Regirock, defensive Carracosta, and Palossand finding their way onto even offensive teams despite their general lack of offensive presence.

As time passed and the metagame continued to develop, the two were being considered overwhelming by more and more people, though they remained in the tier. However, the departures of Altaria and Palossand, which were among the best and easiest to use checks to them, were what finally pushed the two over edge, thus prompting suspect tests for both of them.

Magmortar





HP 75

75 Atk 95

95 Def 67

67 SpA 125

125 SpD 95

95 Spe 83

[Fightinium Z]

Magmortar @ Fightinium Z

Ability: Vital Spirit

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest / Timid Nature

- Fire Blast

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Taunt

Although not as popular as the Assault Vest set during the start of SM, Taunt Magmortar quickly rose up to be one of the most threatening Pokémon in the tier for basically every viable archetype; stall had to resort to shaky answers like Carbink or extremely niche Pokémon such as Sliggoo, balance had to rely almost entirely on soft checks like Assault Vest Hitmonchan, and more offensive playstyles had to avoid letting it switch in freely. The reason behind every archetype struggling was a combination of Taunt and All-Out Pummeling, alongside Magmortar's very high base 125 Special Attack stat and great coverage, making it near impossible to check both offensively and defensively. Standard Fire-type checks like Clefairy, Type: Null, and Munchlax were left unable to switch into Magmortar without being Taunted and then either forced out or KOed. Water-types like Lanturn, Poliwrath, and Gastrodon were also left incapable of checking Magmortar thanks to Earthquake, Thunderbolt, and Hidden Power Grass OHKOing or 2HKOing them. With its decent base Speed and Special Defense, Magmortar was also rather difficult to revenge kill for balance and stall teams that relied on bulky walls and recovery to outlast the opponent, and it made building these types of teams incredibly difficult without resorting to several soft checks.

[Choice Specs]

Magmortar @ Choice Specs

Ability: Vital Spirit

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest / Timid Nature

- Fire Blast

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power Grass

This set was by far the least popular and had yet to pick up hype even when Magmortar was being suspect tested, but it was still extremely hard to deal with. It had the same advantage as the Taunt set in that there were basically zero switch-ins to it. Checks like Hitmonchan and Clefairy were easily 2HKOed and unable to switch in, leaving it down to the opponent correctly needing to predict what move it's going to use and actually deducing that Magmortar is using Choice Specs, which is dangerous in itself. Choice Specs Magmortar also completely destroyed most balance teams that relied on said blanket checks to deal with special attackers.

[Assault Vest]

Magmortar @ Assault Vest

Ability: Vital Spirit

EVs: 60 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe

Modest Nature

- Fire Blast

- Focus Blast

- Thunderbolt

- Hidden Power Grass / Earthquake

Assault Vest was the most popular Magmortar set for a very long time, being able to check Pokémon like Lilligant and beat most Water-types, such as Lanturn and non-Earthquake Gastrodon, one-on-one. Similar to Assault Vest Hariyama, this Magmortar set was certainly the least broken and was easier to check with conventional Fire-type checks like Clefairy and Type: Null, and both stall and balance didn't face issues trying to build versus it. This was mainly due to it not having to utility or firepower that the previous two sets had, as it functioned more as a blanket check to special attackers rather than a dedicated wallbreaker.

No Ban Reasoning for Magmortar

Magmortar was prone to being revenge killed by faster Pokémon like Primeape, Lycanroc, and Alolan Dugtrio due to its merely decent Speed and low physical bulk, meaning that even if teams couldn't reliably switch into it, they were capable of forcing it out after it KOed a foe.

Another issue Magmortar had was its vulnerability to entry hazards, most notably Stealth Rock, which complicated switching in and prevented Magmortar from effectively wallbreaking.

Ban Reasoning for Magmortar

There were a plethora of reasons as to why Magmortar was banned, many of which were explained in the descriptions of the first two sets. Both Choice Specs and Taunt Magmortar had little to no defensive counterplay, with teams falling back on blanket check Pokémon with Assault Vest like Hitmonchan and Lanturn, which are only able to take one hit before no longer being checks. This led to having Stealth Rock on the field becoming the most suitable counterplay.

The unpredictability of what set Magmortar was running also played into how hard it was to build and play against, as the Choice Specs and Taunt sets both had slightly different checks to them, along with the Assault Vest set taking special attacks with more ease. Scouting for these sets proved extremely dangerous, as this meant chancing what Magmortar was running, which put the player against it at an extreme disadvantage if they chose wrong.

As previously stated, the top two sets also invalidated, or almost invalidated, both balance and stall archetypes, as they couldn't handle how hard Magmortar hit with Choice Specs or could stop recovery from Pokémon like Clefairy, Type: Null, and Gastrodon with Taunt. This led to serious restriction in building for these archetypes, with far more niche Pokémon like Carbink and Sliggoo seeing increased usage because of it.

Archeops

HP 75

75 Atk 140

140 Def 65

65 SpA 112

112 SpD 65

65 Spe 110

[Offensive]

Archeops

Ability: Defeatist

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Acrobatics

- Earthquake

- Roost

- Taunt / Stone Edge / U-turn

Despite being nowhere near as versatile as Magmortar was, Archeops only needed one set with some slight variation to be perceived as broken by most. Acrobatics was very spammable and difficult for many teams to switch into because of its high Base Power and Archeops's solid Attack stat, with the most common Flying checks in Aggron, Probopass, and defensive Carracosta being hit super effectively by Earthquake. Roost gave Archeops the ability to keep itself healthy, which helped mitigate its Stealth Rock weakness and prevented Defeatist from completely neutering it once it was below 50% HP. The last moveslot was customizable to both the needs of Archeops and its team: Taunt gave it a better matchup against bulkier, defensive teams by denying entry hazards, recovery, and status moves against Pokémon like Ferroseed, Gastrodon, and Weezing; Stone Edge provided it with a secondary STAB move that could 2HKO Eelektross, a popular offensive check, and OHKO opposing Archeops; and U-turn gave it the ability to pivot out of unfavorable matchups and generate momentum for a teammate like Gurdurr or Kingler that could take advantage of what Archeops lured in.

No Ban Reasoning for Archeops

There were a number of counterarguments made in defense of Archeops. The main argument made suggesting that Archeops wasn't broken was that it was rendered almost completely useless once its HP was below 50% due to Defeatist, forcing it to use Roost and lose momentum as a result, which could give opposing teams an opening to deal with it. Putting Archeops into Defeatist also wasn't particularly difficult due to its weakness to Stealth Rock and poor defenses, which left it vulnerable to priority moves.

Despite Archeops limiting offensive teams, they were capable of revenge killing it due to the popularity of Choice Scarf users that easily outsped it and could KO it after it KOed a Pokémon, with the main examples being Togedemaru, Primeape, and Swanna as well as Pokémon that naturally outpaced it like Lycanroc and Floatzel.

The fact that Archeops was relatively uncommon outside of higher-level play, where it still didn't see an insane amount of usage, was another point people brought up, as this prevented its impact on the tier from being as apparent as previously banned Pokémon like Magmortar and Hariyama. Archeops arguably required a greater amount of skill than most Pokémon in order to be used to the best of its ability, which also prevented people from completely realizing how good it was against offensive and defensive teams as well as balance teams to a lesser extent.

Lastly, Archeops being suspect tested before Aurorus, another dangerous wallbreaker with arguably fewer reliable switch-ins, didn't sit well with people, causing them to compare the two and view Archeops as less of a problem.

Ban Reasoning for Archeops

One of the more common pro-ban arguments was that Archeops limited offensive teams due to its blistering Speed tier and high Attack and simply lacked reliable, consistent switch-ins barring certain Pokémon like Regirock, defensive Carracosta, and Mudsdale. There were three problems with these Pokémon: the first was that, on their own, these Pokémon were not the most reliable and could only soft check Archeops, which forced teams to fit multiple soft checks to prevent Archeops from overwhelming them and limited teambuilding. The second issue was that, aside from Leftovers, these Pokémon had no means of recovery, meaning that they were prone to being worn down and eventually KOed by Archeops; this became even more apparent when one factored in their vulnerability to Spikes. The third and arguably biggest issue was that they were all fairly passive, which gave teammates like Ferroseed an easier time switching in and taking advantage of them.

While Defeatist coupled with its Stealth Rock weakness was an issue, Archeops had access to reliable recovery in Roost to mitigate this. Archeops could make use of how powerful and fast it was to force out slower Pokémon like Hitmonchan and Skuntank, which in turn gave Archeops a chance to regain its HP. Despite its low defenses, the most common forms of priority in Sucker Punch and Mach Punch were not capable of OHKOing Archeops from full, while the forms of priority that were super effective such as Accelerock, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch, and Ice Shard were not very common.

Archeops was capable of threatening more than just offensive teams, too. Stall teams found dealing with Archeops to be a headache as well due to its ability to shut down and break through bulky Pokémon like Pyukumuku, Weezing, and Audino with Taunt. Because of the general passivity of stall teams and Archeops's access to Roost, they were unable to pressure it enough to prevent it from posing a threat.

Conclusion

Both Magmortar and Archeops were banned from PU and have moved to PUBL, with Magmortar having an almost unanimous 93% ban vote (27/29 voters) and Archeops having a large majority of 75% ban vote (31/41 voters).