With the release of the Indigo Disk DLC, we’ve received many new and very powerful Pokemon. It’s still very early in the metagame, so we can’t know for sure, but some of these Pokemon may require tiering action. To that end, we’ve written this document containing comprehensive reviews of the pokemon we find the most potentially problematic, with the intent of having the community better understand any future tiering decisions.
Zekrom
Zekrom has already been banned with a unanimous vote from the council, and the reasoning behind it can be found on the Smogon announcement post, as well as in the Ubers UU Discord announcements channel. However, it’s still important to emphasize how much of an issue Zekrom was. Zekrom’s sheer unmatched offensive prowess allowed to break through teams incredibly well, oftentimes even pulling off an entire sweep by itself. And even if Zekrom was dealt with, it would still have left massive damage upon the opposing team, often allowing the Zekrom user to win anyways.
Zekrom’s high bulk would allow it to easily get at least a single Dragon Dance off. Once at +1 speed and +1 attack, Zekrom could outspeed any non-scarfed Pokemon, and its incredibly high attack stat in combination with incredibly high power unresisted STAB moves allowed it to easily OHKO most Pokemon. The only checks it seemed that this pokemon had were Steel Ground types in Iron Treads and Excadrill. However, Zekrom was an excellent abuser of Tera, and could oftentimes run Tera Flying to avoid Earthquake, and two hit KO the Steel Grounds back with Scale Shot. Additionally, Zekrom’s ability Teravolt, a clone of Mold Breaker, allowed it to break past even unaware walls. A pokemon like Dondozo had to run an unomptimal Tera in Tera Ground, as well as hold the item Ability Shield in order to actually beat Zekrom. The only other answers to Zekrom were certain scarfed pokemon such as Landorus-Therian, as well as Regieleki, as Zekrom at +1 speed could not outspeed them. However, Zekrom could still Tera Flying to beat something such as scarfed Landorus-Therian, and Regieleki would have to end up burning Tera to Tera Ice Tera Blast Zekrom.
Zekrom’s best counterplay was both extremely limited, as well as flawed. It hampered team building to an extreme degree, and even then, it wasn’t a guarantee that one could actually beat it. Zekrom was by far an over centralizing and unhealthy part of this meta, and for those reasons it achieved a unanimous quick ban vote from the Ubers UU council.
Palkia-Origin
Palkia-Origin may seem like a strange pick for this report. After all, it’s been in this tier since the conception of Ubers UU, being the logo we generally brand ourselves with. However, we have thought about Palkia-Origin’s impact on the meta for a long time, and believe that it may pose an unhealthy presence in Ubers UU.
Palkia-Origin is a simple Pokemon, in that it’s an extremely good offensive Pokemon. Defensively, it has an excellent typing as well as cover legendary bulk making it extremely difficult to take down. Offensively, it sports a base speed stat of 120, base special stat of 150, a unique item that boosts the power of its STAB moves by 1.2 times, high power STAB moves, and very good coverage. Palkia-Origin is already extremely difficult to handle defensively without the use of a Pokemon such as Blissey, but even offensively, Palkia-Origin can be a nightmare. Despite not having an extremely viable way of boosting its speed, Palkia-Origin can achieve the same effect with a combination of Substitute and Thunder Wave. Due to its threat level, as well as excellent defensive profile, Palkia-Origin doesn’t struggle to find opportunities to set up a substitute, particularly on a switch. Once behind a substitute, Palkia-Origin truly begins to shine. Any Pokemon that can outspeed and KO Palkia-Origin suddenly are put into a very difficult situation, where Palkia-Origin can safely fire off a special attacking nuke, or choose to use Thunder Wave to cripple the opposing Pokemon. Defensively as well, Substitute allows Palkia-Origin to beat out more passive defensive counterplay such as Toxapex. Through all the combination of factors that already make it an excellent pokemon, Palkia-Origin utilizes Substitute to an extreme degree to put incredible pressure on the opponent.
However, Palkia-Origin is not so completely overbearing, in that it does have counterplay, if limited. With no way to regain HP, Palkia-Origin chips itself down with Substitute. Combined with hazards, and Palkia-Origin can find itself slowly whittled away across the course of a match. Solgaleo just barely manages to avoid a two hit KO from all of Palkia-Origins moves, except for Fire Blast, which is inaccurate and still only has an 8% chance to two hit KO from full. With Roar, Solgaleo can force out a Palkia-Origin behind a substitute, forcing the Palkia-Origin to rack up more chip from hazards and Substitute. Additionally, Calm Mind Arceus is another presence that’s able to check Palkia-Origin, although Spacial Rend critical hits can pose a threat. Lastly, Dragapult can be an effective Pokemon to force out Palkia-Origin. Dragapult outspeeds and threatens to KO with Draco Meteor, and can even ignore a substitute thanks to its ability Infiltrator.
Mewtwo
Mewtwo is yet another extremely powerful pokemon we have received. Its power lies in that it is an extremely well rounded pokemon, with the tools to deal with almost any situation. First and foremost, as an offensive pokemon, Mewtwo has an astounding 154 base special attack stat, and a very high base speed stat of 130 allowing it to outspeed the common 120 base speed tier. Already, the ability to outspeed much of the meta and hit back hard is extremely valuable.
Mewtwo is no glass cannon though. With 106 HP, 90 defense, and 90 special defense, Mewtwo isn’t bulky, but doesn’t collapse to weak hits either. In conjunction with solid defenses, Mewtwo also learns the move Recover, making it hard to wear down across the course of a match. Having a very high base speed, solid bulk, and learning Recover allows Mewtwo to run Life Orb extremely well, boosting its already very high damage output. While Mewtwo does learn Calm Mind and Nasty Plot, the immediate power of Life Orb on Mewtwo allows it to break through teams without giving the opponent a turn to stop it.
Another facet of Mewtwo’s strength is its extremely diverse movepool. Mewtwo has an incredible amount of coverage, but most notably it can run a combination of psychic, fighting, and ghost type moves, typing coverage that compliment each other extremely well. Furthermore, Mewtwo can functionally act as a mixed attacker, as its unique move Psystrike damages pokemon based on their physical defense.
However, Mewtwo is not without its weaknesses. Mewtwo has no way of boosting its speed, and can get outsped and OHKOed by Deoxys and other scarfers. Additionally, Mewtwo being a psychic type means that it’s weak to sucker punch, allowing Pokemon such as Kingambit to force out Mewtwo. Defensively, Solgaleo just barely evades a two hit KO from Life Orb Shadow Ball, and can threaten Mewtwo back with Knock Off, or by using Teleport to pivot to a faster Pokemon that can force out Mewtwo.
Necrozma-Dawn Wings (NDW)
NDW is one of the more unique Pokemon we have received in the drops from January. Its power primarily stems from being incredibly hard to kill, as opposed to being a speedy offensive menace. With 97 109 127 defenses, and an ability that reduces super effective damage, NDW can oftentimes feel unbreakable once it gets set up. NDW can run a myriad of items to success such as Leftovers, Heavy Duty Boots, or even Grassy Seed in order to boost its physical defense, all with the same effective end result of increasing NDW’s longevity. With Calm Mind to boost its special defense, recovery in Moonlight, and tera to avoid weaknesses, NDW’s sheer defensive capability is unmatched for the role it ends up playing, as despite having a monstrous defensive profile, NDW often acts as a terrifying setup sweeper. With 157 base special attack, and extremely high base power stabs, NDW’s power is that of a near unbreakable setup sweeper. And despite its triple weaknesses to Dark and Ghost (factoring in Prism Armor), NDW is an excellent abuser of Tera, oftentimes running Tera Fairy or Tera Fighting to avoid its weaknesses, and blow past its counters.
However NDW still has some gaping weaknesses. Psychic Ghost is still an absolutely terrible typing to start with, and if tera ends up being used on another Pokemon, NDW becomes significantly less threatening. NDW also has no coverage to hit dark types super effectively without tera blast. As such, Arceus-Dark is an incredibly popular option to deal with NDW, resisting its stabs and threatening NDW back with a three times super effective Judgment. Other ways to deal with NDW currently include Toxic, Roar, and sometimes Kingambit if the NDW is Tera Fairy.
Kingambit
Kingambit, the King of OU just behind Great Tusk has finally fallen to Ubers UU. Kingambit is on our radar for many of the same reasons as to why it’s one of the best Pokemon in OU so much of this will be verbatim, however there are still some things to be said about Kingambit’s presence in a higher power level tier.
Kingambit already has a rather good defensive typing, and despite its four times weakness to fighting, Kingambit does the same thing it does in OU and terastalizes into a myriad of different types to get out of its shortcomings, oftentimes gaining the one turn it needs to break past its checks. The ability Supreme Overlord passively boosts the power of Kingambit’s moves, up to a maximum of a 1.5 times boost at 5 allies fainted. A free choice band boost on top of 135 base attack, and oftentimes a +2 from Swords Dance raises Kingambit’s power so high that it can KO through resists. And of course, Kingambit is the first Pokemon that has been able to use Sucker Punch to such an incredible degree. Kingambit has the unique and unprecedented trait of being able to sweep off of sucker punch mind games.
However Ubers UU is not OU. With many cover legendaries in the tier, the overall bulk in the tier is far higher. Even a +2 adamant Kingambit with 5 allies fainted can’t knock some Pokemon from full with Sucker Punch. Additionally, Ubers UU has a few options that OU doesn’t quite have, one in particular being the combination of Jet Punch and Will O Wisp. A burned Kingambit can still deal impressive amounts of damage, however its threat becomes significantly decreased, and if Kingambit uses tera fire to escape Will O Wisp, it takes a staggering amount of damage from Palafin’s Jet Punch. Additionally, Zamazenta-Crowned walls both of Kingambit’s stabs. Kingambit can run Low Kick to beat Zamazenta-Crowned, however Kingambit can’t run all of Sucker Punch, Kowtow Cleave, Iron Head, Low Kick, and Swords Dance.
Deoxys
Deoxys is the definition of a glass cannon: it has an incredible offensive profile and a speed stat that even eclipses some of the fastest mons in the tier such as Dragapult and Zacian while having the defensive prowess equivalent to that of a LC pokemon. This means that, even though any moderately strong attack will knock out Deoxys in one hit, its superb speed and sky high offenses make Deoxys really difficult to check offensively.
While its offensive stats are impressive, it's Deoxys’ movepool that really sets it apart from other fast and frail pokemon. Psycho Boost is Deoxys’ main attack and its 140 base power combined with the 150 base special attack of Deoxys means that there’s little to nothing that can switch into a Life Orb Psycho Boost, unless it’s a resist or an immunity. Its colorful movepool and equally high offensive stats means that Deoxys can fit the role of a special attacker quite well, with options such as Shadow Ball to compliment its psychic stab, Extreme Speed to pick up KOs from weak targets or scarf users, Superpower to deal with the dark types that would otherwise wall it and the combination of Knock Off, Taunt, Spikes and Stealth Rocks means that Deoxys’ role isn’t limited to offense but can support its own team in a variety of ways whether it’s removing items from opposing pokemon or serving as a suicide lead that can also be threatening thanks to its naturally high speed and offenses.
While all this makes Deoxys seem like an unstoppable force, it is true that there is some form of defensive counterplay to it. Deoxys’ leniency to invest heavily into special attack means that a non-stab Superpower, while naturally strong, doesn’t pack nearly enough strength to break defensive mons that resists/are immune to psychic such as Arceus-Dark, Iron Treads, Zamazenta-Crowned and Magearna. All of these mons can take one hit from Deoxys and OHKO it back. Another way of dealing with Deoxys is just by outspeeding and hitting it; faster Pokemon such as Regieleki, Unburden activated Sneasler and common scarfers such as Chi-Yu can blaze past Deoxys’ inability to boost its own speed, and priority users like Dragonite, Rillaboom or Palafin don’t even need to be faster than Deoxys to deal with it.
Kyurem-White
If Deoxys is a glass cannon, then Kyurem-White is a Howitzer. Despite having a lackluster defensive typing and speed tier, Kyurem-White’s serviceable defensive stats allow it to effectively utilize its gargantuan base 170 special attack stat. Furthermore, Kyurem-White has access to some extremely high base power moves in Fusion Flare and Draco Meteor. To top it all off however, Kyurem-White learns the move Freeze-Dry, allowing it to super effectively hit Water types that would normally resist Ice type moves as well as Fusion Flare.
Although despite the artillery-like power that Kyurem-White packs, it is by no means unstoppable. Solgaleo takes just under 50% from non choice specs Fusion Flare, and resists Ice and Dragon type moves. Solgaleo isn’t able to threaten Kyurem-White much, but it does have the capability to use Teleport to pivot out to a pokemon who can force out Kyurem-White. And forcing out Kyurem-White is one of the best ways of beating it, as it’s weak to stealth rock. Kyurem-White is able to use Heavy Duty Boots to alleviate that weakness, however, without adequate boosting moves, Kyurem-White is stuck using choice items to pose an immediate threat.
Ogerpon Hearthflame
Ogerpon Hearthflame is an extremely powerful physical attacker, yet of the Pokemon on this list, it’s definitely on the less powerful end. Hearthflame’s main prowess comes from its ability to immediately boost to extremely threatening levels. After a Swords Dance, there aren’t any pokemon that can comfortably take a hit from Hearthflame. Unaware walls such as Dondozo get defeated by Hearthflame’s Mold Breaker, and other physical walls such as Skarmory or Giratina get slammed by Ivy Cudgel and Play Rough respectively. And of course, as a Fire type, Hearthflame can’t be burnt. To top it all off, Hearthflame has the ability to gain a free +1 attack simply by using its tera. A common setup for Hearthflame is that it will come in on a significantly weakened pokemon, terastalize gaining a +1 attack, and KO the opposing Pokemon with Trailblaze, with this setup effectively giving Hearthflame the equivalent of a dragon dance. However, Hearthflame isn’t without its significant drawbacks
Hearthflame is not bulky, with only 80 base HP, 84 base defense, and 96 base special defense. Even further, it’s incredibly hazards weak. With a times two weakness to stealth rock, and being locked out of holding Heavy Duty Boots, Hearthflame gets whittled down extremely quickly. UUbers is full of strong priority in Ekiller Arceus, Palafin, and even the newly acquired Kingambit, and the combination of Hearthflame’s frailty and weakness to hazards leaves it extremely vulnerable to being revenge killed. But that’s if Hearthflame can even get a sweep started in the first place. Hearthflame has a base speed tier of 110, which is rather good in OU, however Ubers UU is filled to the brim with strong Pokemon that outspeed base 110. Arceus, Palkia-Origin, Deoxys, Mewtwo, Zacian, and Zamazenta-Crowned, all outspeed Hearthflame and can do significant damage, potentially KOing it after hazard chip. Without Trailblaze, Hearthpon is left a sitting duck for some of the tier’s best Pokemon, and even with Trailblaze, Hearthpon can often struggle to find an ample opportunity to safely use Trailblaze.
Arceus-Electric
Similarly to Ogerpon-Hearthflame, Arceus-Electric is a very potent attacker while still having plenty of counterplay. It runs a Calm Mind set with boltbeam coverage through Judgement and Ice Beam. This set can snowball very quickly thanks to the unresisted coverage provided by boltbeam. Its base 120 stats across the board means that it is very bulky and its Electric typing means that it can’t be crippled by Thunder Wave and its only weakness is to Ground which it can Tera out of.
The main weakness that Arceus-Electric has is that it isn’t immediately threatening, meaning that the opponent is free to bring in pretty much whatever they want to beat it without being in much danger. A lot of Arceus-Electric try to solve this problem by investing in their Special Attack instead of HP like you normally would on a Calm Mind Arceus. This however creates a new problem for the Arceus user being that Arceus becomes much easier to kill as the extra bit of bulk goes a very long way. Some of the ways to beat Arceus-Electric include phasing with Pokemon like Giratina and Solgaleo, powerful fast attackers such as Zacian and Mewtwo, and weakening it with hazards allowing for many more Pokemon to beat it.
