RU Ready for ORAS?

Introduction

With the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a lot has changed for RU. These changes range from brand new Mega Evolutions coming to the table, turning previously irrelevant Pokémon into relevant threats, to some XY Pokémon receiving new moves from the move tutors, greatly increasing their viability. A few Pokémon have also had their hidden abilities released, making them the deadly threats they were long speculated to be. In addition, with recent tier shifts, a couple of Pokémon have fallen to RU and become viable Pokémon in the metagame. This article will delve into everything that has changed for RU with the advent of ORAS.

Tier Shifts

Houndoom

Houndoom was a Pokémon whose drop was anticipated for a bit of time because its usage in UU was relatively low for quite a while. However, as of the recent tier shift, Houndoom finally made the fall to RU. Mega Houndoom briefly made a splash in the RU metagame with a simple set of Nasty Plot / Fire Blast / Dark Pulse / Flame Charge, boosting its already absurd power and Speed, and using its excellent STAB combination to muscle its way through teams. However, this didn't last very long, as Mega Houndoom's sweeping power ultimately proved too much for the tier, and Houndoominite was quickly banned.

Despite the loss of its powerful Mega Evolution, Houndoom on its own is still a solid Pokémon. Houndoom possesses solid offensive stats and good coverage in its STAB moves, along with an acceptable Speed tier. Houndoom can run a mixed set with Sucker Punch, Pursuit, and Fire Blast, allowing it to become a great offensive check to Pokémon such as Escavalier, Magneton, Slowking, and Bronzong. It can also function as a sweeper with Nasty Plot, using its strong STAB combination to sweep effectively. Houndoom does suffer, however, due to its lack of bulk and Stealth Rock weakness. It is further hindered by a somewhat average Speed stat for an offensive Pokémon. Regardless, with Houndoom's STAB combination and an effective set of moves at its disposal, it makes a solid and useful Pokémon in RU.

Quagsire

Quagsire, a very unique Pokémon, has also dropped down into RU. It finds itself a nigh-unparalleled niche thanks to its ability, Unaware, which allows it to ignore all of its foes' stat changes. Down in RU, Quagsire's niche is very valuable, allowing Quagsire to become a universal check to many popular setup sweepers in RU, such as Doublade, Fletchinder, Slurpuff, Drapion, and even lesser-known threats such as Cobalion. Quagsire does this well thanks to its passable bulk in tandem with reliable recovery in the form of Recover. Quagsire also boasts a solid defensive typing, giving it a decent set of resistances and only one weakness, albeit a common one due to the ubiquity of Mega Sceptile. Quagsire does suffer, however, from its mediocre special bulk and middling offensive presence, which makes it rather passive. Furthermore, Quagsire lacks the utility of other defensive Pokémon, such as Alomomola, and is unable to really support its team outside of checking boosting sweepers. However, while Quagsire isn't ideal for every team, it has an excellent niche in the tier and is a good choice for any team looking for a defensive check to many of RU's lethal physical sweepers.

Mawile

Ah, Mawile. The version-exclusive counterpart of Sableye has always been very mediocre due to its lack of stats. Its lack of special bulk, lack of power, and poor Speed have always made it as mediocre as you can get. However, in XY, Mawile got a Steel / Fairy typing as well as a Mega Evolution, which was a powerful force in OU due to having the best typing in the game, immense power with Huge Power and Swords Dance, and overall just being a massive threat. Mega Mawile ended up eventually proving so ridiculously overpowered that it was almost unanimously banned. This pulled Mawile back into its realm of mediocrity, so now it has fallen to RU. It will likely drop further to NU due to the aforementioned reasons, but it might be able to find some viability with Sheer Force and Life Orb. It can run an outright offensive set with its good coverage, including many moves boosted by Sheer Force, or with Swords Dance. Its typing also helps it, allowing it to come in on common threats such as Dragalge and Mega Sceptile. However, Mawile is very slow and has a lack of special bulk, which will only give it a slight chance of viability at best. How Mawile will truly do in RU is something we have yet to figure out.

New and Improved Threats

Dragalge

Dragalge is a Pokémon that got a bit of attention in early XY due to Adaptability, which allows it to use its STAB Draco Meteor, one of the most spammable moves in the game, to deal massive damage, with its STAB Sludge Bomb complementing it by hitting the new Fairy-type super effectively. Unfortunately, Adaptability wasn't yet released, so Dragalge wound up being a very average Dragon-type with only a few notable qualities. It got a bit of attention in early RU for its interesting typing and good bulk and power, which made it a usable defensive threat with Toxic Spikes, Scald, and Dragon Tail, as well as a good Choice Specs user with decent power. However, it still faced tough competition for a teamslot from Pokémon such as Drapion, so it ultimately failed to see significant usage in RU despite being viable and having its niches.

However, with ORAS, Adaptability was released, which made Dragalge the top-tier threat it had been speculated to be. Its Adaptability-boosted Draco Meteor boasts astounding raw power, especially with Choice Specs equipped. This makes Dragalge an excellent wallbreaker, using its sheer power alone to put massive dents in teams by OHKOing almost every Pokémon in the tier. Its secondary STAB move, Sludge Bomb, proves very useful as well to hit common Fairy-type Pokémon such as Aromatisse, Slurpuff, and Whimsicott. Dragalge also boasts good coverage options such as Focus Blast and Hydro Pump that can prove very useful. Backing up Dragalge's raw power, its typing and good bulk give it decent defensive utility, with its resistances to Electric, Fire, Grass, and Water coming in handy. It can also still run a defensively oriented set with Toxic Spikes and Dragon Tail. Dragalge may be easy to revenge kill and wear down, but its new ability has given it new life as a top-tier wallbreaker.

Tyrantrum

Tyrantrum has always been a rather interesting Pokémon, being the only Dragon Dance user in XY RU and a strong physical attacker in general. It had pretty good power, with a nice range of coverage options such as Stone Edge, Earthquake, and Strong Jaw-boosted Crunch, Fire Fang, and Ice Fang, which made it usable. It could sweep to some degree with Dragon Dance, or it could use Choiced sets. However, Tyrantrum was at best an average Pokémon, because its low initial Speed and lack of special bulk hurt it a lot and prevented it from being a huge threat, especially with a notable set of weaknesses that left it vulnerable to top threats such as Cobalion, Rhyperior, and Hitmonlee. Because of this, Tyrantrum was left as a niche Pokémon that needed good support to do well, although it still had value as a usable wallbreaker or sweeper that could also check the common Moltres and Fletchinder.

Although Tyrantrum only really got one significant buff in the form of Outrage, that has made it a lot more viable. Now that Tyrantrum has access to the best physical Dragon-type move in the game, it can spam an immensely powerful STAB move that, with a Choice Band equipped, can inflict massive damage. It can also use a Strong Jaw-boosted Fire Fang or Ice Fang to hit Pokémon that don't take much damage from Outrage fairly hard, such as Escavalier and Gligar. It also still boasts the ability to check Moltres and Fletchinder to a decent degree. Tyrantrum can run Dragon Dance or Rock Polish to muscle through offensive teams more easily and function as a sweeper rather than a wallbreaker. Tyrantrum still has its flaws, such as its low initial Speed, frailty, and common weaknesses, but it is still a very solid wallbreaker in ORAS RU and one of the best Dragon-types in the tier. Tyrantrum is among those Pokémon waiting for its deadly hidden ability, which is Rock Head, and once that is released, Tyrantrum will become even better due to being able to use an immensely powerful, recoil-free Head Smash.

Slurpuff

Slurpuff, along with its counterpart Aromatisse, was initially seen as a massive disappointment when it debuted. Aside from the fact that they had rather disappointing designs (although both are rather cute, to be quite honest), both looked to be disappointing in battle. Slurpuff, in particular, looked like a huge disappointment; that is, until it was discovered to have both Belly Drum and Unburden. Slurpuff proved to be a fairly decent lower tier sweeper, especially in RU, and its Belly Drum set could prove a very lethal cleaner, with a sky-high Attack stat after a boost and the Speed boost from Unburden making it hard to revenge kill. Its Calm Mind set was less threatening, but it had good coverage and longevity at hand to be useful as well. With these two sets, Slurpuff was a solid win condition. However, the Belly Drum set suffered from its lack of coverage, leaving it vulnerable to common threats such as Doublade, while the Calm Mind sets were weak without significant boosting. Slurpuff in general suffered from the fact that it only had one real chance to sweep per game and also had trouble setting up because of its average bulk at best.

Like Tyrantrum, Slurpuff really only got one significant move but improved substantially due to it. Slurpuff's access to Drain Punch now gives it excellent coverage on its Belly Drum set, allowing it to muscle through Steel-types such as Registeel and Magneton, making it even harder to stop. Furthermore, the recovery provided by Drain Punch allows Slurpuff to heal off the damage it sustains from setting up with Belly Drum, which makes it much harder to pick off as it is no longer stuck with low HP after setting up. Its Calm Mind set is also still perfectly capable of doing well. Slurpuff only changed slightly, but it is now a much stronger late-game cleaner and a threat you must always have an answer to.

Pangoro

Pangoro got some attention early on due to its design and interesting typing that it shared only with Scrafty. However, when its stats and movepool were revealed, the attention turned into massive disappointment. Its Speed was very low, and its bulk wasn't exactly impressive despite its power. It also sorely lacked many moves that would make it viable, such as Ice Punch, Sucker Punch, and Drain Punch. Pangoro did, however, have an interesting tool at its disposal in the move Parting Shot, which lowers the target's offenses but switches Pangoro out, kind of like a non-damaging U-turn or Volt Switch. However, this made it a niche threat in RU at best, as it had heavy competition otherwise and didn't really stand out among the crowd. It did have Hammer Arm and Crunch, but still lacked the movepool that it needed to become truly good.

However, the ORAS move tutors have pulled Pangoro out of obscurity, as it has received the movepool it really needed to become great. Pangoro got many new tools in ORAS, with even better STAB options such as Superpower, Drain Punch, and most importantly, Knock Off, which is one of the best moves in the game. It also received solid coverage options such as Gunk Shot and Ice Punch, which give it a smoother time handling would-be counters such as Aromatisse and Gligar. These tutor moves have made Pangoro into a top-tier threat in RU that boasts great power and excellent coverage. It can run Choiced sets with Parting Shot, or even a Swords Dance set that makes it a massive threat to slower teams. It also has the luxury of removing items with Knock Off and healing itself with Drain Punch. Pangoro is definitely up there with Dragalge as a prime example of a zero to hero Pokeémon.

Serperior

Ah, Serperior. A very interesting Pokémon indeed. Unova's Grass-type starter has always been mediocre. It lacks powerful offensive stats and has a middling offensive movepool, and its typing is not very good either. It was a fine Pokémon in BW NU as a great offensive Grass-type with Calm Mind or other sorts of interesting sets, such as Coil, dual screens, and parashuffling, along with a great Speed stat and passable bulk. However, beyond that, Serperior was never very good, being outclassed by other Grass-types such as its fellow starter Pokémon Sceptile. It was always notable because it had a great hidden ability, Contrary, but although many desired for it to be released, it never was.

As of now, however, thanks to an event, Serperior's long-awaited hidden ability, Contrary, will finally be legal. This means that Serperior is now capable of spamming a powerful STAB Leaf Storm, which will now also boost Serperior's Special Attack to deadly levels, essentially functioning as a damaging STAB Nasty Plot. Though Serperior is otherwise very low on other options, it can run interesting moves, such as Dragon Pulse to hurt Dragalge and Druddigon, and a Hidden Power of choice, preferably Rock, to hurt Moltres and friends. With Serperior's high Speed and passable bulk, along with the deadly threat of a Leaf Storm that only gets more powerful, it will surely become a massive threat to prepare for. It will definitely suffer from the prominence of Fletchinder and Mega Pidgeot, but Serperior's Speed and threat level will make it quite the Pokémon.

New Mega Evolutions

Sceptile

A fan favorite of many, Sceptile has received a new Mega Evolution, which allows it to finally make a comeback in RU. Back in XY, Sceptile was a Pokémon that had fallen far from its glory in BW RU, where it was dominant. Its sparse movepool and somewhat underwhelming power really pulled it down, and it faced severe competition from other Grass-types such as Virizion. Sceptile was therefore left down in NU, and it was decent, but not a top-tier Pokémon by any means.

Mega Sceptile has a lot of qualities, however, that make it without a doubt one of the best Pokémon in RU. With a special set, it can run through offensive teams with its decent power and immense Speed, using STAB options such as Leaf Storm and Giga Drain in tandem with Dragon Pulse, along with coverage moves such as Focus Blast. This is combined with Sceptile being able to outpace nearly the entire unboosted metagame, which makes it without a doubt an excellent late-game cleaner. Mega Sceptile can also use a Swords Dance set with Leaf Blade and either Outrage or Dragon Claw to be a good sweeper. With its new Mega Evolution, Sceptile has become without a doubt one of the best sweepers in the RU metagame.

Pidgeot

The original early-game bird, Pidgeot has always been as mediocre as you can get. Pidgeot's lack of offensive power or a good offensive movepool to utilize simply left it in the dust, tying for the most worthless Pokémon in the game with its fellow early-game birds, with the exception of Talonflame and Staraptor. The introduction of Mega Pidgeot, however, has changed a lot for the bird. Mega Pidgeot has great Speed and access to No Guard and Hurricane, which makes Mega Pidgeot an excellent answer to offensive teams, as it can use its powerful Hurricane, which has good offensive coverage, to revenge kill effectively. Mega Pidgeot also has Heat Wave, which serves as nice coverage, and it can also run U-turn or Defog, which give it good utility to either gain momentum off of a switch-in or remove hazards; Mega Pidgeot also happens to be one of the few offensive Defog users in RU. Mega Pidgeot has flaws, as its power is somewhat lacking due to its inability to hold an item that isn't its Mega Stone, but it's still an excellent revenge killer that you must always have an answer to.

Glalie

Glalie is a Pokémon that always seemed to ooze mediocrity. Its stats all sit at a mediocre base 80, and it is also cursed with a horrendous defensive typing in Ice, giving it many common weaknesses, including one to Stealth Rock. The best it could ever do was be a mediocre Spikes user, though it had situational use as a Spikes user in the BW RU hail era. However, Mega Glalie was given the ability Refrigerate and gains a high 120 base Attack stat, which makes it a simple wrecking ball. It can spam a powerful, Refrigerate-boosted STAB Double-Edge, which hits very hard, and it also has interesting options such as Freeze-Dry, Ice Shard, and Super Fang, which all have their uses. Mega Glalie's real ace in the hole, however, is its access to Explosion, which boasts excellent coverage and immense power with STAB and Refrigerate, allowing Glalie to score an OHKO on almost any Pokeémon when needed. Mega Glalie still has flaws in poor defensive typing and somewhat average Speed, but it is quite the viable wallbreaker and is definitely worth trying.

Camerupt

Camerupt has always been somewhat mediocre, as it has very low Speed and an average defensive typing, along with only middling bulk. It was somewhat decent in tiers such as NU due to being somewhat bulky with Solid Rock, being able to use Stealth Rock, and having some offensive presence, along with being able to sweep with Rock Polish or under Trick Room, but it was never anything truly special. Its Mega Evolution is a very interesting improvement, as it has access to Sheer Force and two STAB moves in Fire Blast and Earth Power that benefit from the ability, making Camerupt a fairly powerful wallbreaker, much like Mega Abomasnow. It can also run options such as Rock Slide, which hits Moltres and also benefits from Sheer Force, as well as either Substitute or Stealth Rock. Similarly to Mega Abomasnow, Mega Camerupt is very slow but has fairly decent bulk, though because of its low Speed, it is very easy to revenge kill, especially with its common weaknesses. However, Mega Camerupt is still a solid choice for a bulky wallbreaker and is definitely a decent option over Mega Abomasnow.

Audino

Audino, which was always a decent option for a support Pokémon down in tiers such as NU and RU with its access to Wish, Heal Bell, and Regenerator, got a rather unnecessary Mega Evolution. Mega Audino loses out on Regenerator but gains the Normal / Fairy typing as well as some passable offensive presence. Mega Audino is one of the worst Mega Evolutions (though it's definitely not the worst, as that honor goes to Mega Banette), but in RU, it is far from a bad Pokémon. Mega Audino can function fairly decently with a mono-attacker set with Calm Mind, Rest, and Sleep Talk, which makes it a fairly bulky sweeper that can sweep with either Dazzling Gleam or Hyper Voice. Of course, Mega Audino can still run a cleric set like its normal forme does, but instead of Regenerator, Mega Audino boasts a Fairy typing, which makes it a decent answer to Tyrantrum and Mega Sceptile and makes it considerably less susceptible to Hitmonlee. Mega Audino definitely has niches and does them well, though it isn't exactly an improvement over Audino itself, more-so a boon, and is just as viable as Audino.

Steelix

Steelix has always been well-known for its sheer physical bulk, which is backed by a great defensive typing that gives it a slew of resistances. It was a great physical wall in DPP UU, BW RU, and XY NU, being able to take on a large amount of threats, set up Stealth Rock, and potentially phaze with Roar or Dragon Tail. Its lack of recovery and somewhat middling offensive presence did hurt it a lot, though, so it never made it past the lower tiers. Mega Steelix, for one thing, is about as viable as Mega Audino, and is also a worse Mega Evolution (though definitely better than Banette). It can viably run Curse sets, which use its impeccable physical bulk and high power to boost slowly and become a powerful physical threat, especially with Gyro Ball or Heavy Slam to hit many Pokémon very hard. It can go either offensive with Explosion or defensive with Rest and Sleep Talk, akin to Calm Mind Mega Audino. It could also run non-RestTalk defensive sets decently, but its lack of recovery and susceptibility to Gligar hurt it. Mega Steelix is a rather niche option compared to the other Megas, but its sheer physical bulk and good movepool make it a threat to watch out for. Alternatively, as a gimmicky option, Mega Steelix could be run on a sand team with Hippopotas and Stoutland, capitalizing on its ability Sand Force and good STAB combination to be a decent wallbreaker.

Honorable Mentions

Malamar and Aurorus are among the most honorable of the mentioned here. Malamar received access to the ever-coveted Knock Off, which gives it another move to spam along with Contrary Superpower and with a RestTalk set, Malamar makes for a usable bulky sweeper with Superpower to boost, and Knock Off to remove items and provide a much stronger STAB move to use. As a result, Malamar can be very hard to stop once it gets going. However, its poor Speed, lack of good resistances, and somewhat average special bulk prevent it from being an excellent Pokémon. Aurorus, on the other hand, has received a slew of new moves, along with Hyper Voice, which gives it a more powerful STAB move with Refrigerate that also bypasses Substitute. It also has Earth Power, which gives it solid coverage, so it has excellent coverage in just Hyper Voice, Earth Power, and Freeze-Dry, making it a potent sweeper with Rock Polish, or even a viable offensive Stealth Rock user. Its many weaknesses and poor initial Speed, however, still prevent it from making a huge splash in RU. Though both Aurorus and Malamar still have flaws, they are both definitely fun options to build a team around and are worth giving support to be able to make solid win conditions.

Kecleon has also improved, being able to learn some moves previously incompatible with Protean, such as Drain Punch and Knock Off, which makes it a decent offensive tank with its bulk and Protean to constantly change its typing, while being able to boast the excellent recovery and item removal provided by Drain Punch and Knock Off respectively. It also has access to the elemental punches with Protean as well, so now Kecleon can make better use of its great ability to change its typing and receive STAB on everything, which is always useful. Emboar is soon to receive its Hidden Ability, Reckless, much akin to its fellow Unova starter Serperior, which will make an already decent Pokémon into a strong wallbreaker with Reckless-boosted Flare Blitz and Wild Charge. Heliolisk also received Hyper Voice, which gives it a good and reliable Normal-type STAB move to hit Grass-types hard and bypass Substitutes with, but it barely affected Heliolisk's viability overall.

Conclusion

In summation, the RU metagame has changed a lot with ORAS. Of course, the metagame isn't set in stone, and even more Pokémon might have new sets discovered or new hidden abilities released, for all we know. Tier shifts will also be likely to drop new threats down from UU occasionally. So get out there, try out some of these new threats, and be creative! Of course, do know that by this, I am not promoting the use of garbage such as Ambipom and Claydol. Regardless, ORAS RU is a very interesting metagame, so definitely try it out when you get the chance.

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