Hello PB! So XY OU has been up on ladder for three months, and for those who don't know, that is how long it takes for the first trial of lower tiers to get running. Any pokemon that fails to reach 3.4% usage in OU falls to the tier of UU, and anything that gets more than that amount of usage is banned from this tier of play. It's like the "best of the rest" in a sense.
With that, here's what UU looks like in this generation so far. Banned from UU are the following pokemon:
A couple of things to note:
1) Weather is UU! Last generation, Hail was the only kind of weather that was allowed in UU play with Politoed and Ninetales locked away in OU and Sand Stream being banned. This generation, the nerf of weather has made Ninetales, and Hipowdon both drop down to UU. Hippowdon is more popular, but Ninetales runs very well with proper support.
2) A couple of notable BW OU and even Ubers pokemon have dropped: Latias, Keldeo, Celebi, Deoxys-Speed and Defense, Metagross, Haxorus, and Chansey have all dropped. Chansey is not experiencing the dominance it did in BW UU for the short stint it was around, but it still walls all special threats ever. In the battles I've played, I've seen Latias, Keldeo, and Metagross/Mega Aggron on basically every team. There's really no reason not to use them.
The Metagame So Far:
I want to leave most of the discussion to you guys, so I won't go with a huge in-depth analysis of the metagame. Just a few general comments.
1) Physical Dark-types are extremely popular. With Steel-type's nerf, there are only 3 types (Fighting, Fairy, and Dark) that resist Dark, but all of them are significantly less powerful than Steel was. Because of this (and the buff of Knock Off!) Physical Dark-types are very popular: Bisharp, Absol, Honchkrow, etc.
2) Dragons are EVERYWHERE. Latias is obviously the most popular, but Noivern, Haxorus, Zygarde, and more are present in this metagame as well. As far as I can tell, there's very little downside to using Latias, despite the prevalence of Dark-types.
3) Weather is good, but not overpowered. Hippowdon and Abomasnow are great pokemon in this metagame, and they just happen to set up weather as well. Ninetales is good, but the 5-turn limit makes it much more manageable.
4) The most popular megas seem to be: Aggron, Gardevoir, Banette, Manectric, and Heracross. While they're all good, Heracross and Benette are the only two that come close to being overpowered and ban-worthy. At least in my opinion.
Now that all the info is out of the way, feel fre to talk! If don't know where to start, ask yourself: What makes this metagame different than OU? Which sets have you found particularly useful in this tier? Which pokemon do you think are overrated or underrated? Which sets are you excited to try out? These are great places to start. Now, as our webmaster likes to say: Discuss!
With that, here's what UU looks like in this generation so far. Banned from UU are the following pokemon:
Arceus, Blaziken, Darkrai, Deoxys-Normal, Deoxys-Attack, Dialga, Giratina, Giratina-Origin, Groudon, Ho-oh, Kyogre, Kyurem-White, Lugia, Mewtwo, Palkia, Rayquaza, Reshiram, Shaymin-Sky, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zekrom
Moody
Gengarite, Kangaskhanite
Moody
Gengarite, Kangaskhanite
Aegislash, Alakazam, Azumarill, Blissey, Breloom, Charizard, Clefable, Cloyster, Conkeldurr, Donphan, Dragonite, Espeon, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Galvantula, Garchomp, Genesect, Gengar, Gliscor, Goodra, Greninja, Gyarados, Heatran, Infernape, Jirachi, Kangaskhan, Klefki, Landorus, Landorus-Therian, Latios, Lucario, Mamoswine, Mandibuzz, Mawile, Pinsir, Rotom-Wash, Sableye, Salamence, Scizor, Skarmory, Smeargle, Starmie, Sylveon, Talonflame, Tentacruel, Terrakion, Thundurus, Togekiss, Trevenant, Tyranitar, Venusaur, Volcarona
Kyurem-Black, Manaphy,
Drizzle
Drizzle
A couple of things to note:
1) Weather is UU! Last generation, Hail was the only kind of weather that was allowed in UU play with Politoed and Ninetales locked away in OU and Sand Stream being banned. This generation, the nerf of weather has made Ninetales, and Hipowdon both drop down to UU. Hippowdon is more popular, but Ninetales runs very well with proper support.
2) A couple of notable BW OU and even Ubers pokemon have dropped: Latias, Keldeo, Celebi, Deoxys-Speed and Defense, Metagross, Haxorus, and Chansey have all dropped. Chansey is not experiencing the dominance it did in BW UU for the short stint it was around, but it still walls all special threats ever. In the battles I've played, I've seen Latias, Keldeo, and Metagross/Mega Aggron on basically every team. There's really no reason not to use them.
The Metagame So Far:
I want to leave most of the discussion to you guys, so I won't go with a huge in-depth analysis of the metagame. Just a few general comments.
1) Physical Dark-types are extremely popular. With Steel-type's nerf, there are only 3 types (Fighting, Fairy, and Dark) that resist Dark, but all of them are significantly less powerful than Steel was. Because of this (and the buff of Knock Off!) Physical Dark-types are very popular: Bisharp, Absol, Honchkrow, etc.
2) Dragons are EVERYWHERE. Latias is obviously the most popular, but Noivern, Haxorus, Zygarde, and more are present in this metagame as well. As far as I can tell, there's very little downside to using Latias, despite the prevalence of Dark-types.
3) Weather is good, but not overpowered. Hippowdon and Abomasnow are great pokemon in this metagame, and they just happen to set up weather as well. Ninetales is good, but the 5-turn limit makes it much more manageable.
4) The most popular megas seem to be: Aggron, Gardevoir, Banette, Manectric, and Heracross. While they're all good, Heracross and Benette are the only two that come close to being overpowered and ban-worthy. At least in my opinion.
Now that all the info is out of the way, feel fre to talk! If don't know where to start, ask yourself: What makes this metagame different than OU? Which sets have you found particularly useful in this tier? Which pokemon do you think are overrated or underrated? Which sets are you excited to try out? These are great places to start. Now, as our webmaster likes to say: Discuss!
