PU: Discovering Creative Trash

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Overview

If the OU tier were analogous to a grand castle where the royalty party and the Uber tier were analogous to the dungeons beneath the castle where those deemed too powerful for the royalty were imprisoned, then the PU tier would be analogous to a garbage dump. It stinks, everyone knows it's there but never really notices it, and everyday, the rats and cockroaches enter it and rummage through its contents.

Sometimes, they find nothing but standard trash that they have to make do with for a meal. Many times they find trash so revolting that it isn't even worth picking up. Occasionally, though, they come across a piece of trash that looks different. Something new.

This article explores the garbage dump of PU and shows you some of the innovative trash that has been dug up since the creation of the tier. All of the sets shown below are ones that were once hidden away but have since become standard. Some of these are Pokémon that were never taken seriously, yet sprung up and are now comfortably stuck onto teams. Some of these are Pokémon that take on a completely different role from what players are used to. Some are just Pokémon with slightly altered movesets to perform their existing role better. Whichever the case, these sets are living proof that PU is a tier full of potential and constant development.

Iron Tail Tauros

Tauros @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Climb
- Zen Headbutt
- Iron Tail
- Earthquake / Fire Blast

Question: Did you see which tail Tauros hit the foe with when it used Iron Tail? Answer: No, I must've missed it.

Okay, let's put all of that aside and look at Tauros. Despite being notoriously blind, Tauros has always been top-tier; in fact, many players are seeing red over Tauros's incredible Speed, coverage, and power and are calling for a ban—or are they just mad that their opponents' Tauros have better eyesight than they do? Anyway, even very sturdy physical walls, such as Gourgeist, Poliwrath, Tangela, and Avalugg, are broken down by Tauros's coverage moves, while an extremely powerful and fast Rock Climb breaks down frailer foes until the cows—er, bulls—come home. In fact, only a few true counters to Tauros existed: physically defensive variants of Misdreavus and Solrock, for example.

That's right, existed is in the past tense.

With Iron Tail, Tauros breaks past almost everything. Solrock is almost OHKOed and even Misdreavus takes a beating from switching into it multiple times; physically defensive Misdreavus can only switch into Iron Tail after Stealth Rock damage once to be put into 2HKO range the next time it comes in. Unlike the more accurate Iron Head, which Tauros also gets access to, Iron Tail can 2HKO Avalugg and Togetic after Stealth Rock damage, as well as bringing Nasty Plot Misdreavus into Zen Headbutt's KO range. Depending on its coverage move, Pokémon such as defensive Tangela and defensive Carracosta find it difficult to continually switch into Tauros. Unfortunately, all this power seems to have made Tauros lose sight of what's truly important: hitting the bull's eye (oh, how ironic). Let me reassure you, though: if Tauros hits, something will die.

Mixed Basculin

Basculin @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptibility
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Beam
- Zen Headbutt
- Aqua Jet

Does a mixed Basculin set seem fishy to you? It did for most of the PU community before it was put to the test as well. Choice Band was always the main Basculin set that took advantage of Adaptibility to boost Waterfall and Aqua Jet's power to huge levels. Unfortunately, this left it prone to being walled by bulky Grass-types; Choice Band Basculin could only rely on relatively poor moves such as Superpower and Zen Headbutt for coverage, and a Choice-locked Basculin could not get past common threats such as Poliwrath.

Mixed Basculin is, however, an extremely threatening wallbreaker that can tear apart slower teams. With Ice Beam, Basculin can 2HKO several bulky Grass-types, including Gourgeist and Tangela. While it reels in a reduction in power, the switch to Life Orb makes it much easier for Basculin to play around slower foes without being over-reliant on prediction. Zen Headbutt takes care of Roselia and Poliwrath, in particular 2HKOing the latter, which is a popular switch-in. Mixed Basculin also keeps certain perks of the Choice Band set, namely the decent Speed tier and a powerful Adaptibility-boosted Waterfalls and priority Aqua Jets. Unfortunately, Basculin is still quite frail, so much so that even the Pokédex notes that Basculin is a "remarkably tasty" Pokémon. If you're unprepared, though, it seems more likely that Basculin will be a bass-killin' off your slower Pokémon and making a tasty meal out of them.

Rock Polish Regice

Regice @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast

Regice's Rock Polish set had always been its best, but it remained an unpolished gem during the early stages of PU. It eventually gained popularity when players realized that Regice could easily set up and clean up against offensive teams to a large degree. With Regice's incredible special bulk, even when uninvested, it is capable of setting up against foes commonly found on offensive teams such as Misdreavus, Rotom-F, and Roselia. After a Rock Polish boost, Regice outspeeds the majority of the metagame. Some Choice Scarf users, such as Haunter and Rotom-F, still outrun +2 Regice, but its incredible special bulk stops their revenge killing attempts cold. Meanwhile, Regice's BoltBeam coverage in combination with Focus Blast enables it to pick apart a lot of Pokémon from offensive teams with a little bit of prior damage. Here are some damage calcs from common Choice Scarf users and priority users to send shivers down your spine:

While Tauros and Scyther fail to KO Regice, it's still a good idea to eliminate them before setting up because you have to account for the damage Regice might take while setting up.

Brrrring it on.

Offensive Rain Dance Poliwrath

Poliwrath @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Blast
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam

Poliwrath is a very versatile Pokémon and has always been top-tier for its ability to defeat threats such as Carracosta, Simipour, and Sneasel. RestTalk used to be its most popular set, before more offensive variants, such as SubPunch and special attacking tank, were invented. Poliwrath's role seemed to be limited to that of a slow and bulky tank, until this set rained upon PU.

Built to excel on more offensive teams, Rain Dance Poliwrath provides a powerful STAB combination and outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame under rain, barring certain Choice Scarf users such as Tauros, and hoses them down. Even outside of rain, Poliwrath still hits decently hard with a Life Orb, and its STAB moves are difficult to switch into. Hence, it can whittle foes down and set up Rain Dance to sweep when the time is ripe. Affectionately known as "KELDEO ON STEROIDS" among PU players, Rain Dance Poliwrath is now one of the more popular Poliwrath sets for these reasons.

In case you weren't convinced of its power, here are some damage calculations:

Taunt + Toxic Throh

Throh @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 192 HP / 252 Atk / 32 Def / 32 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Storm Throw
- Knock Off

After the banning of Musharna and then Garbodor, Throh got a buff with two of its biggest counters gone and slowly gained popularity as a Sneasel check. However, in the beginning, the bulk of Throh's usage came from a specially defensive spread with Rest and Bulk Up. This was not a bad set at all; however, offensive teams found it difficult to fit Throh in due to its passive nature. It did not hit hard prior to boosting and found itself Defog bait for the likes of Togetic and Pelipper, which offensive Spikes-stacking teams would prefer to avoid.

Throh's popularity got a lift, however, upon the invention of its Taunt + Toxic set. By investing into Attack and using a more powerful STAB move than Circle Throw, Throh is able to hit hard without having to set up. In addition, Taunt + Toxic enables Throh to defeat many defensive Pokémon. For example, Togetic, Tangela, and Pelipper will be crippled if they switch into Toxic, and Throh can even prevent Togetic from using Defog, thanks to Taunt. Throh accomplishes this while still being a reliable check to Pokémon such as Misdreavus and Sneasel, thanks to its great mixed bulk. If you don't mind Throh losing some bulk, it can use 132 Speed EVs to outpace Pokémon such as Tangela and Relaxed Poliwrath. Too bad Poliwrath wouldn't be feeling that way when it finds itself outsped, Taunted and unable to Rest, and smacked with a Toxic!

Offensive Tank Tangela

Tangela @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power Fire / Ancient Power
- Leaf Storm

Tangela's physically defensive set was the norm in the early stages of PU. By investing into Defense, this clump of fried noodles could eat up hits from a multitude of physical attackers. Regenerator gave it the ability to pivot in and out of physical attackers at very little cost. Unfortunately, physically defensive Tangela could not hit back very hard and ended up losing momentum for the more offensive teams looking for a pivot. Offensive Tangela was cooked up to solve these problems.

Despite not having a very high Special Attack stat, offensive tank Tangela is able to hit much harder than the physically defensive set, making it slightly harder to switch into. Tank Tangela fits much better onto offensive teams because it not only still provides enough physical bulk to pivot in and out of physical attackers thanks to its massive bulk and Regenerator but also provides opponents with less leeway, as it can now fire off a strong Leaf Storm. While physically defensive Tangela is still viable on defensive teams, offensive tank Tangela is now a staple on many offensive teams as a catch-all check to physical attackers and has become the standard set for Tangela.

Conclusion

Those are just a few of the innovative sets that had never been seen before, popped up, and have become standard over the course of PU. Of course, there are some sets and Pokémon that are and will always be trash, but there's no harm in trying them out to see for yourself. Remember, PU is a tier chock full of forgotten Pokémon and much room for creativity. Don't forget to check out the PU subforum, the place that we rats and cockroaches call home, and join us as we desperately try to dig up refreshing rubbish. Feel free to steal from our collection of innovative garbage and give PU a try!

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