As a newer competitive player who started this generation, I’ve dealt with several baton pass teams while attempting to climb the ladder. I’m mainly an user of offensive teams, and thus struggle with these teams. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever overcome a full Baton Pass team. Seeing an user who uses a Baton Pass team having a rather high rating(around 1600+) makes me cringe. I personally believe that Baton Pass is a problem to the development of the metagame.



Gen 5 and Gen 6 have given Baton Pass teams new tools to play with. Gen 5 gave Espeon the semi-exclusive ability Magic Bounce, which bounces back nearly any attempt to phaze, haze or taunt a Baton Pass team. The only exception to this is Circle Throw and Dragon Tail, both of which don’t work on targets behind substitutes. Gen 5 also brought Stored Power, which gives Baton Pass teams an extremely powerful move after some boosts. Stored Power is mainly used by Espeon in Baton Pass teams. Gen 6 gave Scolipede a new lease at life in OU by changing it’s Hidden Ability to Speed Boost, and with its access to Baton Pass, its debatably better than Ninjask due to better typing and better bulk(Ninjask’s 61/45/50 vs Scolipede’s 60/89/69). Scolipede can also set up Iron Defense for Baton Pass teams, essentially giving it a way to easily boost its physical stats and speed. Gen 6 also introduced a new Magic Bouncer in Mega Absol, who has fantastic 150/115/115 offenses to utilize on Baton Pass teams.



There aren’t many solutions that won’t create some controversy over Baton Pass(people are still wondering why Swagger was banned). I wouldn’t go for a blanket ban, because Baton Pass has uses other than passing boosts. Pivots can use this to get a switch advantage, albeit most pokemon that can be used as a pivot have access to either Volt Switch or U-turn. Baton Pass also gives a way for some pokemon to escape Pursuit and other trapping moves, but, again, pokemon that require a way to escape trapping moves usually have U-turn or Pursuit. However, many pokemon can use Baton Pass to give teammates a safe switch-in, because there are several Baton Pass users that have a rather low speed. Examples of pokemon that can do this are some Eeveelutions, including Sylveon and Umbreon, albeit it takes up a moveslot on both. Complex bans wouldn’t be the hottest thing, but for some situations I believe it could work, including Baton Pass. Banning the use of Baton Pass in conjunction with Magic Bounce may be one of the best solutions should it be necessary to nerf Baton Pass.



The main thing about Baton Pass is similar to SwagPlay, in that it really doesn't require much skill when using pokemon like Espeon in the team. The solution I suggested in the last paragraph may nerf Baton Pass teams to the point where the user would really need to be creative and strategic when attempting to use a Baton Pass team. With the Magic Bounce + Baton Pass combination, players really only need to know when to BP at the right time.



Long story short, I don't support a full-on ban to Baton Pass, but I do support an effort to nerf it.