the neverused tier discussion thread.
the nu tier is a very interesting one, owing to its variety and the viability of many pokémon. as everyone says in a cliche manner, it's where many of the crappy pokémon earn a chance to show their prowess in a metagame suited for them. however, as we all know, some 'mons are still just not that great. there are of course some larger threats, and there are of course the ones that just fail to be of great use. however, that still doesn't discourage people from trying out interesting sets and perhaps even finding one that impacts the metagame. the viability of a wide range of pokémon that nu provides is just one reason why it's fresh and exciting.
this thread is open to discuss anything about the nu metagame. what pokémon are current threats? what sets are standard and best suited in nu? what are some creative and new sets that are tested or can be explored? most importantly, keep a discussion going relating to possible answers to these questions. :')
to start, i'll go through quite a list of pokémon that are prominent or are viable in no particular order.
rising black/white 2 threats.
with black 2 & white 2 comes a slew of newly-released dream world abilities as well as move tutors that have caused some pokémon to rise in usage and finally become good.
dream world has blessed it with skill link, which is much more reliable over technician in exchange for a powerful wake-up slap. although the moveset u-turn/rock blast/bullet seed/tail slap is just about on every cinccino, it's just good enough to break through many 'mons. choice band is an excellent wallbreaker and can 2hko everything in the tier bar misdreavus, while choice scarf is an excellent late-game cleaner. however, without technician, wake-up slap is a pitiful 60 bp move to the point where people don't run it, and as a result steel types usually check cinccino decently.
toxic boost zangoose. although one may compare it to ursaring, zangoose is sort of a middle ground in attack and speed whereas ursaring either goes guts or quick feet. however, one advantage zangoose has is quick attack, which makes it an excellent revenge killer alongside it denting many walls. one may run a swords dance set to make quick attack much more deadly, but ghost types will ruin the fun. as a result, sd zangoose would enjoy pursuit support or it can forego swords dance for night slash. it outspeeds the most common sucker punchers, absol and cacturne, barring scarf variants which is a huge plus.
all it needed was regenerator to be good. amoonguss sports respectable bulk as well as the ability to reliably put something to sleep with spore as well as stop 'mons (besides klang) from boosting with clear smog. grass/poison is amazing defensively which grants it nifty resistances to fighting, water, electric, and grass. it can also run dual status with stun spore if it wishes. being able to wall offensive threats while crippling them in the process and switching out to regain some health is just invaluable.
the recent ru dropdown has received many new toys from bw2 shortly after which, to some, is considered ill-timing. reason being is that golurk is now a hard 'mon to check in nu. shadow punch/drain punch/earthquake/ice punch hits most of the types for super effective damage which imposes a huge amount of offensive pressure, especially when choice banded. it also now receives stealth rock which makes golurk unique in being able to both set up hazards and spinblock much like froslass. cryogonal moving up to ru doesn't really help the opposing team either.
offensive threats in nu.
just some hard hitters. i'm not patient enough to sift through and write an entire list of 'mons, but these are just a good chunk of good offensive threats that nu has to offer.
the first thing someone thinks of when it comes to an nu dark-type would be this. a 130 attack stat is spectacular, especially when paired with a stab sucker punch and pursuit. alongside the priority and trapping is the ability to gain nearly perfect coverage with superpower. all of these plus an immunity to psychic make absol's frailty negligible. with swords dance, absol becomes difficult to stop and will impose more mind games. faster priority, especially mach punch from gurdurr, is needed to help check this threat.
samurott seems like an average 'mon, but megahorn makes it a powerful physically offensive threat that can muscle through the grass pokémon that otherwise give it trouble. after a swords dance, samurott can be deadly as it has priority stab aqua jet. with its decent bulk, you can bet that there will be some times where samurott is brought into torrent range. a special set is amazing for additional coverage, with moves such as ice beam and hidden power grass/electric.
thanks to the bw2 move tutors, fraxure can be especially scary now that it has superpower and aqua tail for coverage to go along with its base 117 attack. with eviolite, fraxure has enough bulk to set up a dragon dance and muscle through teams that are unprepared for it. it may not be terribly fast after a dragon dance, but it is still difficult to stop powerful outrages that can only be resisted by a small handful of steel types that still fall to a simple superpower if outplayed.
other notable offensive threats include: altaria, braviary, butterfree, carracosta, eelektross, emboar, haunter, kadabra, pinsir, rotom-s, sawk, sawsbuck, swellow, torterra, tauros, and zwelious. however, there are much more that are great too.
defensive threats in nu.
there are good defensive 'mons in nu. here are a small handful of defensive behemoths that i haven't mentioned that can really put some 'mons at a full stop if unprepared.
with regenerator and eviolite, tangela is absolutely hard to break through. add that with leech seed and sleep powder, and that just accumulates into a whole mess that can actually cause a team a lot of trouble. sleep powder can potentially take out a counter while leech seed is a decent form of recovery that wears down opponents. one shouldn't underestimate tangela's special attack too as 100 base isn't particularly weak for a wall even when uninvested.
musharna is insanely bulky with 116/85/95 stats, allowing it to take hits really well while recovering it off with moonlight. while it has pitiful speed, its bulk alongside its 107 base special attack allows it to be an effective bulky offense 'mon as well that can set up calm minds. its movepool may be limited, but signal beam and hidden power ground/fighting gives it good coverage. one may even consider running a choice specs set that can dent some 'mons as well.
when equipped with an eviolite, misdreavus' middling stats are now bolstered to great defensive levels. although it only has pain split to recover some hp, its support movepool aids its cause by carrying heal bell and will-o-wisp. furthermore, its immunity to normal and fighting is useful when looking at many threats (sawsbuck for example). it is a great cinccino check considering how it is immune to tail slap and is only 4hko'd by other moves if physically defensive.
other notable defensive threats include: alomomola, amoonguss, audino, flareon, gurdurr, lickilicky, miltank, regirock, torkoal, and wartortle. this is just a chunk of defensive 'mons; there are several more unmentioned ones too!
hazards in nu.
i don't think i need to explain much about hazards. a lot of sweepers are limited, especially ones that would like to switch a lot (swellow, cinccino, choiced 'mons). many walls may suddenly face a 2hko and will have trouble switching in as well.
stealth rock is one of the reasons probopass is used. but looking at the rest of its movepool, probopass offers an amazing slow volt switch which can help get certain 'mons in safely. probopass' defenses are great enough to take these hits and while its rock/steel typing may give it glaring weaknesses to fighting and ground, it is still a good check to the likes of cinccino. probopass can offer some support in the form of status as well, with the ability to thunder wave and toxic as necessary. however, thunder wave may ruin the point of a slow volt switch.
garbodor is the most popular spiker in nu, due to it being able to carry both spikes and toxic spikes. poison typing gives it a nice fighting, poison and grass resistance, which is always useful. not to mention that it can absorb toxic spikes as well. with bw2, garbodor gained some new toys such as seed bomb and aftermath. although being a defensively oriented 'mon, garbodor has nice attack and speed stat which is not bad against other walls, especially when facing a powerful stab gunk shot.
cacturne is a tricky one. horrible defensive stats with mediocre speed should immediately leave it hanging as something useless. however, having spikes alongside sucker punch and encore just makes cacturne a great offensive spiker that can lead to many mind games. with its offensive presence, cacturne can force frail opponents out with the threat of a sucker punch while instead getting up layers of spikes in the process. encore can work against slower walls and bullet seed is a probable option over seed bomb for frail or water-type substitute users.
other notable hazard setters include: armaldo, bastiodon, camerupt, carracosta, gigalith, golem, lairon, miltank, regirock, torterra, and torkoal. there are a few others, but these seem to be the main ones with mostly stealth rock.
notable spinners include: armaldo, wartortle, torkoal, and... not much else to be honest. pineco? shellder? delibird? lol. nu definitely dislikes cryogonal's movement up to ru.
some questions to consider when discussing in this thread:
- what are some other threats in the tier to discuss?
- what sets are viable? what sets aren't?
- what checks or counters some of these threats? especially the bigger ones in the bw2 metagame.
- what are some creative sets that are actually usable?
there are many other questions to consider and topics on specific 'mons to discuss. hell, even ask your own nu-related questions! whether it is related to team building or about specific 'mons, it won't hurt.
anyway,
tl;dr neverused is a cool.
