PU's Unearthed Gems

Art by Tikitik.

Introduction

PU has had a relatively short history in generation seven. The tier only exited its beta stage in September 2017, two months before Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon would come out in November. At the time of writing this article, PU has had less than a year in its complete official stage, and you might think that wouldn't be enough time to see a lot of shifts. However, you'd be absolutely wrong. The PU metagame has gone through a good deal of growth and change in this year, and to commemorate that, we're going to be taking a look at a few Pokémon that went from being considered unexceptional or downright unviable to having their true potential unearthed. Despite not receiving any buffs since the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon move tutors in November, these Pokémon have risen up the Viability Rankings to stand out as solid or top-tier choices on many PU teams simply via experimentation and realization that there was more to them than the playerbase initially realized.

Crabominable @ Assault Vest

Ability: Iron Fist

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD

Adamant Nature

- Drain Punch

- Ice Hammer

- Close Combat

- Earthquake

Crabominable was never considered bad in PU per se. It always had a good niche as being practically mandatory on Trick Room teams, since it was a devastatingly strong wallbreaker with very poor Speed. Trick Room teams were quite popular at the beginning of PU, so it held a well-defined niche on those particular types of teams. However, it never really found its footing outside of that very specific team structure and Trick Room usage started to dwindle, leaving Crabominable without a place in the metagame until the discovery of its Assault Vest set, largely credited to HJAD. In a tier where Aurorus is one of the most devastating wallbreakers, bulky Ice-resistant Pokémon are always vogue, and Crabominable functions as a fantastic blanket check to Aurorus and other specially offensive Pokémon such as Alolan Exeggutor, Omastar, and mono-attacking Jynx. Even without Attack investment, Crabominable still puts on more offensive pressure than other special walls such as Clefairy and Munchlax, making it very difficult to check, and with careful play as well as the use of Healing Wish, it can easily outlast certain checks such as Mesprit and chip away at them over time. Although regular offensive sets could never take off next to Pokémon such as Aggron, Crabominable's surprising turn as a support Pokémon despite its stats screaming offensive wallbreaker made a huge difference in how it's perceived in PU, causing it to move up almost an entire rank on the Viability Rankings with potential for further growth.

Silvally-Dragon @ Dragon Memory

Ability: RKS System

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Draco Meteor

- Flamethrower

- Defog

- Parting Shot

Silvally-Dragon is a weird case in that no new set or tech was discovered to make it go from unranked to a solid PU staple. It received Defog with the release of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but Silvally-Fairy and Silvally-Ghost continued to be far more popular choices than it, not to mention other Dragon-types like Altaria and Alolan Exeggutor. Fairy-types completely walled it and it just didn't really check much that you couldn't handle more effectively with another Defogger, or so people thought. Then it was eventually pushed back into people's consciousnesses by tondas with a nomination on the Viability Rankings. Silvally-Dragon and its cousin, Silvally-Water, began to see their usage increase as Altaria left the tier and Kingler became more and more of a dominant force in the metagame. They could essentially function similarly to the more popular Silvally-Fairy, but they checked Fire- and Water-types rather than Fighting-types. Slowly, tournament players picked up on Silvally-Dragon's usefulness, and it turned out that Draco Meteor is an excellent attack to have on an otherwise offensively pathetic Pokémon, with Flamethrower giving it perfect neutral coverage. There isn't necessarily much to its rise; people simply were told about this cool, new Pokémon to use and ended up latching onto it very powerfully, but it's potent nevertheless. Silvally-Dragon's main tools were always known about; it just took time, experimentation, and the metagame developing for people to give it a real chance.

Aggron @ Choice Band

Ability: Rock Head

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Adamant / Jolly Nature

- Head Smash

- Superpower

- Earthquake

- Heavy Slam

Aggron is another case where nothing specific changed exactly, but it happens to be the most drastic example of this. Starting out at a measly C+ on the Viability Rankings, Aggron was considered a poor choice for a wallbreaker with Hitmonchan, Primeape, and Gurdurr running rampant and better wallbreaking options such as Archeops, Magmortar, and Drampa available. This wasn't necessarily unreasonable, as the PU metagame at that time trended more towards strong special attackers and Aggron was just so easy to revenge kill. However, as time passed, things began to change. Even before Gastrodon and Ferroseed rose to NU, people were considering Aggron more and more of a strong threat. Its wallbreaking effectiveness might've been dampened by how common switch-ins such as Gurdurr and Gastrodon were, but its defensive capabilities began to see a more in-depth exploration. As a bulky Steel-type, Aggron could switch fairly easily into Pokémon such as Silvally-Fairy and Skuntank, and its ability to switch in or be safely brought in through double switches so frequently made it become a more attractive option over defensively mediocre Pokémon such as Drampa. And so it went, with Choice Band becoming increasingly more popular, followed by Stealth Rock sets, as people realized how much offensive pressure they were still capable of putting on teams, and finally, Z-Move sets with Continental Crush and Corkscrew Crash becoming some of the most reliable nukes in PU. Aggron has currently risen to A+ on the viability rankings, a massive turnaround from its consideration as a mediocre and forgettable drop at the beginning of the generation and one of the largest rises in PU to date.

Bellossom @ Grassium Z

Ability: Chlorophyll

EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Quiver Dance

- Giga Drain

- Strength Sap

- Moonblast / Safeguard

The largest rise, however, likely goes to Bellossom, a Pokémon that was unequivocally worthless in ORAS and unranked before USM came out. Yes, Bellossom had received Quiver Dance and Strength Sap, two incredibly broken moves. However, PU was still having its love affair with Lilligant, a Pokémon which still remains the superior Quiver Dance-using Grass-type. Then, the above set changed everything. Originally credited to jklioe, bulky Quiver Dance Bellossom set itself apart from Lilligant simply due to its ability to actually tank a hit. Bellossom can set up on middling offensive threats like Kangaskhan and Primeape and wouldn't instantly get blown away if it missed Sleep Powder. Additionally, Lilligant's frailty leaves it highly susceptible to revenge killing by Choice Scarf users such as Primeape, whereas Bellossom has the bulk to tank a couple of U-turns. Even after this discovery, Bellossom was still ranked fairly low, never seeing too much usage simply due to how difficult it is to build with such an awkward sweeper that had extremely bad matchups versus common Pokémon such as Magmortar, Alolan Sandslash, and Taunt Weezing, all of which Lilligant could much more easily break through. Nevertheless, it slowly crept into prominence before seeing a much higher level of recognition in the most recent PUPL. People just needed to figure out the proper team support for such a unique and unexpected sweeper, and Bellossom now rests at a comfortable B+ on the viability rankings, finally finding a competitive niche in an official tier.

Lurantis @ Leftovers

Ability: Contrary

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

Bold Nature

- Leaf Storm

- Superpower

- Defog

- Synthesis

For a while into PU's lifespan, Lurantis had the simple issue of both physical and special sets being somewhat lackluster. Superpower boosted Lurantis's stats too slowly and wasn't that strong, and Grass just isn't a great offensive typing, especially when Pokémon such as Sap Sipper Drampa were common. Additionally, Knock Off and Leaf Blade made for solid physical coverage moves, but the more popular specially offensive sets were forced to choose between different Hidden Power types. In hindsight, it's probably easy to see that both Superpower and Leaf Storm could be run on the same set, but mixed Lurantis never really took off until being used in the early weeks of the Smogon Exhibition Tournament. Popularized by Megazard, mixed Lurantis could simultaneously threaten to quickly boost its offensive stats versus bulky foes such as Clefairy while still effectively threatening common Grass-resistant foes such as Skuntank, all without needing to choose between a few different coverage moves that would leave Lurantis walled by one threat or another. This took Lurantis from being a niche Defog user to a much more common and solid choice, especially because of how well it could take advantage of the most common entry hazard setters, Ferroseed and Regirock. Metagame shifts didn't even have a large impact on Lurantis, as losing Ferroseed and Gastrodon was balanced out by the dominance of Kingler making a wallbreaker that could also switch directly into it highly attractive. Lurantis likely could've risen to relevance in the earlier stages of PU if the correct sets were being used, but it was simply a case of people not knowing how to best pair its coverage moves massively impacting how good of a balance-destroying entry hazard remover it turned out to be.

Oricorio-Pom-Pom @ Flyinium Z / Rocky Helmet

Ability: Dancer

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe or 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe

Timid Nature

- Hurricane

- Calm Mind

- Taunt / Revelation Dance

- Roost

Another adorable dancing Pokémon making the list, Oricorio-E initially seemed severely outclassed by its Ghost-type counterpart and various other Flying-types. Being thoroughly walled by Lanturn is fairly unfortunate, and the Taunt + Toxic sets that were fairly common simply didn't put out much offensive pressure. It just didn't really do anything for teams. It was a stallbreaker in theory but incredibly difficult to justify using when it checked so few relevant threats outside of Lilligant and non-Stone Edge Archeops. Then the so-called "Bulky Sensu" set was discovered, and Oricorio-E knew what it was good at again. Oricorio-G had always been a good Pokémon in PU, but the explosion of its Taunt + Calm Mind set, popularized by dibs, had massive impacts on the PU meta, devastating typical balance cores such as Clefairy + Ferroseed. It became extremely popular at the tournament level and players started re-experimenting with various sets that had gone out of style that could keep it in check, including Choice Scarf Aurorus and this little fellow. Oricorio-E could essentially do the same thing as Oricorio-G, but while checking opposing Flying-types much more effectively. It never rose to outshine Oricorio-G, as Ghost simply trumps Electric in PU, but it could wallbreak about as well and managed to find consistent usage fulfilling a similar role while checking its ghostly counterpart. It currently resides in B+ on the Viability Rankings—a full rank lower than Oricorio-G, but very respectable nevertheless.

Conclusion

Every metagame from OU to PU sees immense growth and change even without things like tier shifts and new buffs. Try to effectively experiment in creating new niches for underrated Pokémon and perhaps you'll be the one coming up with the next bulky Pom-Pom and changing your favorite tier.