The New Challengers of RU

Art by BlueBerryBlanket.

Introduction

Lower tiers tend to shift considerably throughout the entirety of the generation, and it is no different for USM RU. After some drops and new threats arrived in the metagame, RU players started digging through the depths of low rankings and other low tiers and found gold in some really good and underrated Pokémon that turned into some of the best tools the tier has to offer. Meanwhile, other powerful threats that were really strong started losing traction because of those meta trends, falling in viability, since they couldn't keep up with the new challengers that showed up on the tier. Let's take a look into some of the new top threats in USM RU.

The New Challengers

Golisopod

/ Golisopod @ Choice Band / Insect Plate

/ @ Choice Band / Insect Plate Ability: Emergency Exit

EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Liquidation

- First Impression

- Leech Life

- Aqua Jet / Spikes

If nothing else, Golisopod is an icon of how an unexplored Pokemon can be used to its best. Golisopod was once considered one of the worst Pokémon on the entire tier, due to the curse on its ability, Emergency Exit. Despite being very powerful and having great priority in First Impression, Golisopod wasn't considered a good Pokémon because of how easily it could be worn down, which would trigger Emergency Exit and send it straight back to the user, even when it takes hazard damage. This trait made Golisopod look really bad in a metagame where Stealth Rock is a must, since it isn't easy to use Emergency Exit to maneuver into favorable positions.

This was the case until the user Nat started running it in SPL; this was initially as a joke, but it ended up serving as a showcase of Golisopod's incredible capabilities as a wallbreaker and revenge killer when holding a Choice Band, being able to outright OHKO really threatening Pokémon such as Virizion, Flygon, Gardevoir, Roserade, and Zygarde-10% with its STAB First Impression. It also has a good STAB combination, pressuring defensive Pokémon like Gligar, Mega Steelix, Cresselia, and most Steel-types with Leech Life and Liquidation, and good other options in the likes of Aqua Jet and Spikes. It also has coverage in Rock Slide, Knock Off, and Drill Run to hit offensive checks like Noivern, Toxicroak, and Doublade.

Since then, Golisopod's usage skyrocketed compared to how little love it received before in both ladder and tournament play. Despite having problems and being really clunky because of its ability, Golisopod's pros outweigh its cons due to how easy it is to support with hazard control, and it turned into one of the faces of the offense playstyle in the tier. In this RUPL game, Golisopod is able to force the opposing team into mind games between Liquidation and First Impression and clean up late-game.

Ninetales

Ninetales @ Choice Specs

@ Choice Specs Ability: Drought

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Overheat

- Flamethrower

- Solar Beam

- Hidden Power Ice / Psyshock

Ninetales isn't a relevant Pokémon at all in the tier it resides, PU, since it doesn't have access to its preferred ability in Drought and is outshined by other Fire-types. However, Ninetales's potential as a powerful wallbreaker was always known in RU due to its great Fire-type power backed up Drought. Since the last RUPL, Ninetales was found to be an almost impossible Pokémon to check because of its amazing power with Choice Specs, almost perfect coverage in Fire Blast, Solar Beam, and Psyshock or Hidden Power Ice, good Speed tier, and ability to support the likes of Chlorophyll Venusaur with Drought. Specs Overheat is really hard to switch into, and Ninetales is able to dismantle Fire-resistant Pokémon like Rhyperior, Noivern, and Dragalge with coverage in Solar Beam, Hidden Power Ice, and Psyshock.

Despite Ninetales's fragility and its weakness to Stealth Rock, it cemented itself as one of the premier wallbreakers of the tier and arguably the best Fire-type in RU as a whole. In this game from Week 3 of RUPL, Ninetales is able to heavily pressure the opposing team with the combination of Specs Overheat and Solar Beam, dealing huge chunks of damage even to Pokémon that resist its attacks like Noivern and Rotom-H and dismantling Mega Abomasnow's ability as a wallbreaker by taking out its weather, allowing Virizion to eventually clean up the game.

Noivern

Set 1 Set 2 Noivern @ Flyinium Z

@ Flyinium Z Ability: Infiltrator

EVs: 48 HP / 252 SpA / 208 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Hurricane

- Flamethrower

- Taunt

- Roost / Noivern @ Flyinium Z / Rocky Helmet

/ @ Flyinium Z / Rocky Helmet Ability: Infiltrator

EVs: 168 HP / 40 Def / 88 SpA / 4 SpD / 208 Spe

Timid Nature

- Taunt

- Roost

- Super Fang

- Hurricane

Noivern was once considered a pure offensive threat, running a Life Orb 3 Attacks set that could be checked by most Steel-types and special walls in general. However, it became a relevant Pokémon when it started going for a stallbreaking approach, running the combination of Taunt and Roost alongside STAB Hurricane backed by Flyinium Z or Life Orb and Flamethrower or Super Fang. This allows Noivern to be relevant not only defensively, with an amazing set of resistances that lets it check the likes of Shaymin, Golisopod, and Virizion and serve as a great glue for offensive teams, but offensively as well, having enough offensive presence to scare away fast threats like Ninetales, Salazzle, and Zygarde-10% due to its amazing base Speed of 123, great damage output, and increased offensive presence from Flyinium Z or Life Orb.

The main reason to run Noivern is its ability to stallbreak defensive Pokémon like Milotic and Registeel with Taunt, making them unable to recover their health or status Noivern as the Dragon-type wears them down. With a more defensive spread, Noivern can take on Pokémon that resist its attacks better and stallbreak more comfortably, keeping itself healthier with Leftovers or damaging the likes of Golisopod or U-turn users with Rocky Helmet. In this game of RUPL semi-finals, Noivern keeps the offensive core of Roserade + Golisopod constantly in check with proper prediction and pivoting, serving as a great midground check in a lot of situations and helping Mega Blastoise wallbreak effectively. In this RUPL game, Noivern is able to wear Gligar down by preventing it from recovering with Taunt and forcing the opponent to make aggressive switches against it.

Barbaracle

Barbaracle @ Rockium Z

@ Rockium Z Ability: Tough Claws

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Shell Smash

- Stone Edge

- Liquidation

- Return / Substitute

RU is notably a tier without many setup sweeping cleaners, and the name of the game in this role for a long time was Feraligatr, which has access to both Dragon Dance and Swords Dance to clean weakened teams late-game or circumvent some of its checks with good coverage. However, the tier itself has adapted a lot to deal with Feraligatr, as its main check, Milotic, is one of the premier defensive walls of the tier. Dragon Dance Feraligatr has problems setting up due to its typing and vulnerability to status, since it has to run Life Orb to increase its damage output, and it can be revenge killed by the likes of Choice Scarf Gardevoir and Golisopod after some chip damage.

Barbaracle comes in as a new Water-type cleaner option that has advantages over Feraligatr due to the amazing set up move that is Shell Smash, a secondary typing that allows it to set up on more Pokémon, a strong secondary STAB attack that can be used alongside Rockium Z to take out defensive behemoths such as Milotic and Cresselia, and good coverage options in Aerial Ace, Return, Low Kick, and Grass Knot.

Despite still being weak to priority like Golisopod's First Impression due to Shell Smash's drop in Defense, the main selling point of Barbaracle is that it offers the best of both worlds; it can hit like a truck with +2 Continental Crush and help a teammate to win the game later, or it can act as an amazing wincon. Barbaracle is also really hard to revenge kill after a Shell Smash because of the stellar Speed it hits after setup, outspeeding most Choice Scarf users and requiring specific methods to take it down. In this game, Barbaracle uses Choice-locked Escavalier as setup fodder after Stealth Rock is up, cleaning right away after some mind games with Milotic.

Registeel

Set 1 Set 2 Registeel @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Seismic Toss

- Toxic

- Stealth Rock

- Protect Registeel @ Leftovers

@ Leftovers Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Seismic Toss

- Toxic

- Stealth Rock

- Protect

Registeel isn't fresh blood in RU at all; it has been a metagame staple since ORAS as a resilient and reliable hazard setter with a really good typing and immunity to Toxic. Unfortunately, it dropped in viability because other Steel-type options were just better for what the metagame needed. The name of the game this time was Bronzong, which is immune to Ground-type moves and can take on Tyrantrum and Gardevoir very well, since it is immune to Tyrantrum's main coverage move and usually didn't care about Gardevoir's moves at all. However, the benefits of running Bronzong came with a huge drawback in its weakness to Dark-type moves, especially Pursuit. So with Bronzong, another meta trend came to take it on in the form of Pursuit trappers such as Drapion and Choice Band Escavalier, which could just wreck it and leave most teams without their main Rock- and Fairy-type check.

And that's where Registeel comes in. Despite being very one dimensional and lacking that Ground-type immunity, Registeel isn't Pursuit weak like Bronzong and has notably more bulk than the Psychic-type, having the ability to take on Tyrantrum and Gardevoir while still doing well against the Pursuit trappers that were such a problem. It also stands out from Mega Steelix due to its resistances to Ice and Grass allowing it to check the likes of Shaymin, Rotom-C, and Vanilluxe with ease.

Registeel can also run a physically defensive spread to take on Tyrantrum even better, since its natural bulk lets it still check Shaymin, Gardevoir, and other Fairy-types very comfortably. Since that discovery, Registeel has been an interesting option as Steel-type hazard setter alongside Bronzong and Mega Steelix on more balanced builds based on overall longevity. In this RUPL Week 5 game, Registeel keeps Tyrantrum, Shaymin, and Florges in check while getting Stealth Rock safely onto the field.

Get out there!

RarelyUsed has discovered a lot of new relevant Pokémon over time, and there probably are a lot more new treasures just waiting to be found. Now that you know some of them, go ahead and try using some of the new tastes RU has to offer!