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For those of us who play on Shoddy Battle, by now we've gotten a good taste of Pokemon Platinum and the new strategies it brings to the metagame. This thread is meant to discuss these strategies as well as changes in the metagame.
So what have you guys noticed?
In the beginning, it seemed like every team had Skymin XD. Now that the excitement has died down a bit, I don't see them as much (although it's still REALLY popular). IMO, Skymin seemed much scarier on paper--I just don't find it all that hard to deal with in actual play. I actually used one myself for a bit and while it's a top-tier Pokemon, it's no Garchomp. Skymin lacks the sweeping potential that Chomp had. It normally takes down a Pokemon or damages a team before going down but it rarely defeats more than one Pokemon in my experience. There were also tons of matches where Skymin didn't even do anything and ended up being a complete dead-weight. Blissey still walls it most of the time (Choice Specs Skymin is extremely rare but even that set needs some hax to win) and Registeel is a perfect counter. It's an easy Pokemon to revenge kill and normally dies to an Ice Shard (it COULD run a Yache Berry but then it loses out on the extra power needed to OHKO/2HKO a lot of Pokemon). The Stealth Rock weakness doesn't help it either (Garchomp, in comparison, was resistant to Stealth Rock AND Sandstorm). I find Skymin to be an excellent revenge killer and mid-game Pokemon but it rarely lasts until the end of the game. However, it's also worthwhile to note that it's true potential probably hasn't been found yet. As the metagame evolves, I'm sure that Skymin could become a force to be reckoned with. In case anyone's interested, the "standard" Skymin sets right now are an offensive Life Orb set with Substitute/Seed Flare/Air Slash and either HP Ice or Earth Power and a Sub-Seed set with Substitute/Leech Seed/Seed Flare/Air Slash with Leftovers. Most Skymin run max speed and HP Fire is rare because they then lose a point of speed and are out-sped by other Skymin.
I actually find Bullet Punch Scizor to be more threatening than Skymin. I've personally been swept by it at least a few times and I use one myself to great success. It has plenty of counters but most people carry something on the team to destroy those counters (Salamence and/or Heatran are often on the same team with it). It's certainly not Uber but it can be a tricky Pokemon to deal with and only takes a turn of set up to start sweeping in end-game. I'd also rank it up with Deoxys as being one of the best revenge killers. It can turn a game completely around in a turn.
DD Outrage Salamence isn't too bad and was definitely over-hyped, as I predicted. It's a great Pokemon, just nothing impossible to stop.
I haven't seen many of the new Rotom forms in play which is a shame because they're pretty damn good. I use the Washing Machine Rotom on one of my main teams and it's amazing. It walls Scizor, Heatran, Zapdos, and even Skymin to a lesser extent. Considering that all of those Pokemon are increasingly common, it's proven to be an asset to my team. The Oven one is probably THE Scizor counter because of Overheat :p (I'd use it myself but it wouldn't fit well on my team).
Right now the golden rule seems to be "when in doubt, assume it has Trick" >_>. I'm seeing a bunch of Trick leads and most Gengar/Metagross/Azelf have it. It's an annoying move but I think it'll drop in usage over time. A lot of Pokemon now get Superpower and Sucker Punch, too, so that's something to watch out for.
Gengar isn't too common these days as the only notable move he gained was Trick. All Gengars now tend to be ScarfGars with something like Trick/HP Ice/Shadow Ball/T-Bolt...or Explosion thrown in there. Hypnosis being nerfed and the increase in Sucker Punchers isn't helping his case. He's still a great Pokemon but he's having trouble fitting in the average team at the moment.
So what have you guys noticed?
In the beginning, it seemed like every team had Skymin XD. Now that the excitement has died down a bit, I don't see them as much (although it's still REALLY popular). IMO, Skymin seemed much scarier on paper--I just don't find it all that hard to deal with in actual play. I actually used one myself for a bit and while it's a top-tier Pokemon, it's no Garchomp. Skymin lacks the sweeping potential that Chomp had. It normally takes down a Pokemon or damages a team before going down but it rarely defeats more than one Pokemon in my experience. There were also tons of matches where Skymin didn't even do anything and ended up being a complete dead-weight. Blissey still walls it most of the time (Choice Specs Skymin is extremely rare but even that set needs some hax to win) and Registeel is a perfect counter. It's an easy Pokemon to revenge kill and normally dies to an Ice Shard (it COULD run a Yache Berry but then it loses out on the extra power needed to OHKO/2HKO a lot of Pokemon). The Stealth Rock weakness doesn't help it either (Garchomp, in comparison, was resistant to Stealth Rock AND Sandstorm). I find Skymin to be an excellent revenge killer and mid-game Pokemon but it rarely lasts until the end of the game. However, it's also worthwhile to note that it's true potential probably hasn't been found yet. As the metagame evolves, I'm sure that Skymin could become a force to be reckoned with. In case anyone's interested, the "standard" Skymin sets right now are an offensive Life Orb set with Substitute/Seed Flare/Air Slash and either HP Ice or Earth Power and a Sub-Seed set with Substitute/Leech Seed/Seed Flare/Air Slash with Leftovers. Most Skymin run max speed and HP Fire is rare because they then lose a point of speed and are out-sped by other Skymin.
I actually find Bullet Punch Scizor to be more threatening than Skymin. I've personally been swept by it at least a few times and I use one myself to great success. It has plenty of counters but most people carry something on the team to destroy those counters (Salamence and/or Heatran are often on the same team with it). It's certainly not Uber but it can be a tricky Pokemon to deal with and only takes a turn of set up to start sweeping in end-game. I'd also rank it up with Deoxys as being one of the best revenge killers. It can turn a game completely around in a turn.
DD Outrage Salamence isn't too bad and was definitely over-hyped, as I predicted. It's a great Pokemon, just nothing impossible to stop.
I haven't seen many of the new Rotom forms in play which is a shame because they're pretty damn good. I use the Washing Machine Rotom on one of my main teams and it's amazing. It walls Scizor, Heatran, Zapdos, and even Skymin to a lesser extent. Considering that all of those Pokemon are increasingly common, it's proven to be an asset to my team. The Oven one is probably THE Scizor counter because of Overheat :p (I'd use it myself but it wouldn't fit well on my team).
Right now the golden rule seems to be "when in doubt, assume it has Trick" >_>. I'm seeing a bunch of Trick leads and most Gengar/Metagross/Azelf have it. It's an annoying move but I think it'll drop in usage over time. A lot of Pokemon now get Superpower and Sucker Punch, too, so that's something to watch out for.
Gengar isn't too common these days as the only notable move he gained was Trick. All Gengars now tend to be ScarfGars with something like Trick/HP Ice/Shadow Ball/T-Bolt...or Explosion thrown in there. Hypnosis being nerfed and the increase in Sucker Punchers isn't helping his case. He's still a great Pokemon but he's having trouble fitting in the average team at the moment.
