Metagame NP: RU Stage 18: Fuck Me Pumps (Alomomola Remains RU)

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EonX

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Finally made reqs late last night, so I guess I'll give my full thoughts on Alomomola as well as Dugtrio since plenty of people have brought it up.

First off, Alomomola. Simply put, I saw a pretty big decline in the consistency of balance teams on the ladder. They were quite a bit easier to wear down, and I found myself not having to predict nearly as much against them. I felt this was a direct cause of Alomomola being unavailable on the 2nd ladder, but also because not many people were making use of Mega Audino, a Pokemon I feel has gone incredibly underrated on the 2nd ladder up to this point as I only remember facing around 2 or 3 Mega Audino teams the entire run I had. Outside of that, I still felt like I was running similar Pokemon that I was running when Alomomola was on the first ladder because the root of the problem was still around I feel. At this point, I'm inclined to vote no ban on Alomomola as I feel the root of the problem is the reason so many teams have issues breaking down Alomomola. Yes it's a fantastic Pokemon, yes it provides incredible support and utility, but I feel there's another reason that we're struggling against Mola teams more than we ever have. And that reason became more and more clear to me as I laddered up the 2nd ladder.

And that reason would be Dugtrio. Now, I know what you're probably thinking. "Eon, how can a Pokemon as frail as Dugtrio be a reason Alomomola is so good right now?" The answer is actually pretty simple, but actually seeing the answer isn't as simple as it may seem at first glance. Lum SD Virizion is one of the best Pokemon to abuse RegiMola cores since it can setup on both Pokemon and beat physdef Venusaur 1v1 if it packs Zen Headbutt. This is great against those teams. But when you're teambuilding, you have to accept the fact that your likely primary sweeper (as Virizion is for most teams) will NEVER be able to sweep as long as Dugtrio is alive on an opposing team. Is that something you're willing to deal with? Idk the answer to that. Only you do as that is a question you have to ask yourself when teambuilding. If you're not ok with that, guess what? You're forced to find another way to take advantage of RegiMola cores. Offensive Venusaur is a powerful threat that can usually put a ton of pressure on RegiMola teams, especially if it opts for Knock Off. However, due to Life Orb recoil and possible burns it will sustain, it has to use Synthesis a lot against Dugtrio teams. Why? Because once it drops below 68% (think of how easy that is to do for a moment) it's gone. This is one of the reasons PhysDef Venusaur is so much better right now, but it has a much harder time directly pressuring Alomomola teams due to the lack of Special Attack investment. Magneton is made nearly helpless vs any Dugtrio team because it can never safely spam Volt Switch or T-Bolt, which it may need to use in order to drop something like Slowking or Jellicent for a teammate. It's made worse against any team that happens to have Mola + Duggy since Mola can just Protect to scout what you're wanting to do with Mag. If you lock into T-Bolt or Volt, you HAVE to switch if Duggy is around. Specs Jolteon is boderline unviable due to its strongest asset (right now) being the fact it outspeeds Dugtrio naturally. But to take advantage of that and use Electric moves safely, it has to wear itself down with Life Orb so it can HP Ice the Dugtrio if it tries to hard switch in. I've even started running Baton Pass to scout for random Sucker Punch Dugtrio since Jolteon is just putting itself in KO range of that. Other Pokemon, such as Meloetta, Hitmonlee, Houndoom, Delphox, and Medicham also get hurt pretty badly by Dugtrio if they aren't Scarf simply because they HAVE to stay healthy. This is especially harmful to Meloetta, a Pokemon that can easily be used as an emergency check to some special attackers for offensive teams. (think Delphox, Sigilyph, and Jolteon)

However, the influence doesn't stop with just offensive Pokemon. SpDef Diancie and Registeel are inherently worse as SR users because of Dugtrio. One of the biggest reasons Rhyperior is so damn good right now is that it's a bulky Stealth Rock setter that doesn't care about Dugtrio and can still check some of the things that get paired up with it. Diancie is forced to run Shuca Berry sets while Registeel's only hope is Shed Shell, but guess what this does? It not only makes them even easier to wear down, but in the case of Diancie, it also becomes unable to switch into Knock Off at all. Bronzong is easily better on some teams over Registeel now simply because it's not trapped by Dugtrio. Perhaps the most difficult thing is that you can't outright counter Dugtrio. It's a Pokemon that counters you basically. Whatever it chooses to revenge kill, it's going to drop them just about every time. And outside of EQ and AA, Duggy doesn't "have" to run anything else. This leaves the door open to Pursuit, Stone Edge, Sucker Punch, Toxic, Memento, Sub, even Protect. All of these moves do something different for Dugtrio's team and allow it to be more flexible. I've even seen Dugtrio on stall builds, and it's still a royal pain. Because you know that if you go for a prediction and get it right by KOing a key stall mon, you're probably only getting revenge killed for your trouble. Overall, the stall team still gets rewarded more for your good prediction simply because it probably just removed the Pokemon that could have taken advantage of that good prediction you just made.

Dugtrio is just a Pokemon that wins the first half of its battle in the teambuilding phase. It makes it inherently harder to use any Pokemon that's slower than Dugtrio, weak to EQ / AA, and / or has subpar physical bulk (keep in mind neutral uninvested 80 / 83 physical bulk can only take 32% between hazards, resisted hits, and possible LO recoil / status before dropping to CB EQ) It wins the second half of the battle by still forcing your opponent to make certain plays just because of Dugtrio's presence since one false move means you could get trapped and die. It influences offensive and defensive Pokemon alike, while choosing what it wants to counter. It's not a traditional amazing Pokemon because, in a sense, you don't counter it; it counters you. Even if your Pokemon isn't specifically weak to Dugtrio, you have to know your damage %s with ALL of your grounded Pokemon, because once they drop into KO range of EQ (could also be Edge or Sucker) then you're at risk of losing that mon after it gets a KO.
 

atomicllamas

but then what's left of me?
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