Finchinator said: It has a sufficient amount of defensive counterplay in the tier; the amount of defensive counterplay it has is even greater than something like Vanilluxe, in my opinion, and the fact that it is able to reliably Spike is not something I regard as problematic in a sense that we should quickly ban it. Click to expand...

Other Druddigon Sets

Ability: Mold Breaker

EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Iron Head

- Stealth Rock

- Glare

- Dragon Tail



0 SpA Diancie Moonblast vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 112-133 (36 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Diancie: 200-236 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Choice Specs Diancie Moonblast vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 232-274 (74.5 - 88.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Diancie: 256-304 (105.7 - 125.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO





Ability: Mold Breaker

EVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Gunk Shot

- Stealth Rock

- Glare

- Dragon Tail



252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Gunk Shot vs. 236 HP / 0 Def Comfey: 296-350 (98 - 115.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Life Orb Triage Comfey Draining Kiss vs. 188 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 95-113 (27.7 - 33%) -- guaranteed 4HKO





Ability: Sheer Force

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Gunk Shot

- Sucker Punch

- Dragon Claw

- Fire Punch @ Roseli BerryAbility: Mold BreakerEVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 SpeAdamant Nature- Iron Head- Stealth Rock- Glare- Dragon Tail0 SpA Diancie Moonblast vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 112-133 (36 - 42.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Diancie: 200-236 (65.7 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery252+ SpA Choice Specs Diancie Moonblast vs. 64 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 232-274 (74.5 - 88.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Diancie: 256-304 (105.7 - 125.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO@ Roseli BerryAbility: Mold BreakerEVs: 188 HP / 252 Atk / 68 SpeAdamant Nature- Gunk Shot- Stealth Rock- Glare- Dragon Tail252+ Atk Mold Breaker Druddigon Gunk Shot vs. 236 HP / 0 Def Comfey: 296-350 (98 - 115.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock252+ SpA Life Orb Triage Comfey Draining Kiss vs. 188 HP / 0 SpD Roseli Berry Druddigon: 95-113 (27.7 - 33%) -- guaranteed 4HKO@ Life OrbAbility: Sheer ForceEVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Gunk Shot- Sucker Punch- Dragon Claw- Fire Punch

Hi all, Yoshi here! It's been a while since I've done a post like this is the NU forum, so I thought I'd take the time to do one today. While I obviously haven't had a great start to tournaments this year (out round 2 of NUL and round 2 of No Xatu), I would like to note that I have had little interest in playing competitive at the moment. I've been trying to instead prep for the bigger tours like Smogon Tournament, Classic, and Grand Slam. I have also been quite busy dealing with LGPE things as well. Despite those distractions, I have still taken time to build and play for NU over the past few weeks. I have noticed quite a few trends whether it be in conversation or on the battle field, so here are some of the things I'd like to take the time to talk about (and hopefully spark some discussion!).Vanilluxe is a Pokemon I keep hearing about on Discord and Pokemon Showdown, and I do understand why to some extent. What I don't understand is why we haven't been talking about it sooner. Around the latter months of 2018, Lax and I called for a Vanilluxe suspect test on Discord and that raised some discussion. Since the Slowbro test, it really hasn't seen any serious discussion outside of what we know of (such as inside council discussions). Eternally did say that there was no Vanilluxe suspect test (or any suspect test for that matter) incoming soon. But why? To some, the answer may not seem obvious, but the council holding off on this test does make sense to some extent for a couple of reasons. For one, Vanilluxe doesn't make this tier unplayable. While a lot of people might argue that NU is very unbalanced due to the high number of offensive threats such as Comfey, Heliolisk, Passimian, and Vanilluxe, at no point have I thought (or many other players for that matter) that this tier is unplayable. This of course applies to Vanilluxe. While on paper it looks pretty broken, especially with its best checks getting worn down by hail damage and hazards fairly easily (Incineroar and Silvally-Steel). However, in practice, I find it a lot easier to play around Vanilluxe both offensively and defensively (another reason why Vanilluxe might not warrant a test), as long as I am able to keep myself in charge of the game. Of course, you won't always be in charge of the game, but in match ups with Vanilluxe, it is pivotal to do that regardless, so I think if more people try and stay out of playing in the back, the Vanilluxe match up will be a lot easier for them in that sense. Despite these things, of course Vanilluxe has an undeniable presence in the team builder and in battle, which is why Vanilluxe should perhaps be tested. For example, here's an SSD game of Lax vs. FLCL , where Lax manages to be in charge of the battle for the majority of the game, as well as keep Vanilluxe in the back until it was time to clean. As long as you can keep Vanilluxe relatively healthy for most of the match, it can be extremely easy to get kills with it, even if the opponent plays the best they can. Due to all of these above reasons, I think that a Vanilluxe suspect would be beneficial to collect information from the community. Most people don't post or voice their opinion in forum posts, but rather in their votes, which was especially apparent in the last three NU tests (Slowbro, Gigalith, and Venusaur). However, as a member of a council myself, I do understand how hosting a suspect test where a Pokemon may be not-so-obviously broken can be a risky decision (however in the case of Vanilluxe, it is very subjective to say Vanilluxe is or isn't obviously broken).Here's a Pokemon I'm glad we kept! I think a lot of people don't understand why the council voted for this Pokemon to stay, so I'm hoping I can provide a bit more of an in-depth analysis on that. Let's quote Finchinator's opinion on Mega Glalie to start, because I believe it is fairly accurate.He says that Mega Glalie has a sufficient amount of counter play is very true. While Mega Glalie can be more powerful than Vanilluxe while being able to switch moves all at the same time, this tier has a lot more physical walls to counter Mega Glalie than this tier has special walls to counter Vanilluxe. Pokemon like Incineroar and Slowbro can easily play around Mega Glalie, even with its access to Earthquake and Freeze-Dry. This becomes especially apparent in practice when there is a lot of pivoting around and hazard residual damage racks up. This is still true with powerful moves like STAB Double-Edge and Explosion. Like Vanilluxe, Mega Glalie doesn't have much defensive counter play on paper, but in practice, this fails to be the case. In terms of the portion on Spikes, Finchinator is right. The fact that it is reliably able to use Spikes is not a problematic thing by any means. Sure, it definitely deals with a lot of Stealth Rock users, and deals with Xatu better than say Garbodor, but Spikes itself isn't an unhealthy element for NU (or in general for that matter) and shouldn't be a factor when determining whether or not Mega Glalie is broken.While there is this no ban argument, there is one pro-ban argument that I agree with. While it wasn't posted on the forums, I was scrolling through the NU room on PS! one day and I was looking at something rozes said. Someone had asked him why he voted ban on Mega Glalie in the council vote, and he responded with something along the lines of this reasoning: it is a lot safer to simply ban Mega Glalie and then test it to return to the tier then to let it roam free for a few weeks before it gets banned by suspect test. This to me makes sense. However, that doesn't mean it comes without its flaws. Say perhaps the council does want to test Vanilluxe, and it suddenly becomes this super problematic force in the NU tier. However, we're stuck suspect testing a Pokemon that we quickly discover isn't broken by any means. That means we are stuck having a problematic Pokemon in the tier for over a month, which is the problem I have with that ideology. A bit unrelated as well, but I wouldn't trust that a test for Mega Glalie was 100% going to happen anyway if it was quick banned. We were promised that way back when as well for Mega Abomasnow, and we waited a long time for that to happen (although we did eventually get it back).Here's a Pokemon I haven't played around with much recently, and I'm going to tell you why. I'd first like to note, though, that Gastrodon is still perfectly viable in NU. In fact, I could see it getting ranked in the B- to B range, but I personally don't see the appeal in it. I'd rather use Slowbro or Slowking for bulky Water-types, and in terms of the Ground portion, Seismitoad is usually preferable for the Speed. However, Gastrodon is still an option over those because it fits those roles into one Pokemon. Gastrodon is simply a bulky Water / Ground-type. The fact that it is quite passive is what scares me the most. It doesn't have boosting options or the natural strength of Slowbro and Slowking, and doesn't have the Speed to always efficiently utilize Toxic like Seismitoad. Gastrodon also has a lack of Stealth Rock, which may be a bigger negative to some than others. As someone who is always trying to build creatively, I don't think the lack of Stealth Rock is that huge of a deal, as there are always other options. Overall, I don't really like using Gastrodon because it fails to mesh roles of already existing Pokemon in a super efficient manner, and is a bit too passive to fair in a metagame that leans towards more offensive Pokemon.I feel like I talk about Druddigon a lot, but it is an extremely versatile Pokemon and deserves to be talked about. Druddigon has probably over a dozen viable sets you can run, being able to efficiently run several items, move combinations, and EV spreads to fit the needs of your team. Most people just look at the Mold Breaker Stealth Rock set, and while it does make Druddigon an extremely reliable Stealth Rock user, there are plenty of other things to consider behind that set and beyond that set. For example, here's a set that -Davon made that I have been enjoying using on hyper offense teams as of late:@ Focus SashAbility: Mold BreakerEVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpeJolly Nature- Stealth Rock- Taunt- Glare- EarthquakeAs you can see, Druddigon utilizes Focus Sash alongside Stealth Rock and Taunt to make lead match ups a lot easier for your offense teams. It also carries utility in Glare which can paralyze non-Ground-type leads like Accelgor and Garbodor, as well as having Earthquake for Ground-weak leads like Steelix and Garbodor. This is far from the only cool Druddigon set I have been using. I've also used a combination of Roseli Berry + Gunk Shot to deal with Comfey, Iron Head to deal with Diancie, and a majority of other cool lure sets as well. Offensive Life Orb sets with Sheer Force are also options as well, especially since Druddigon is by no means a weak Pokemon. This section is a bit all over the place, but it is meant to show that Druddigon has more to offer than just being a Stealth Rock user that gets up Stealth Rock on Xatu for free.