Yo! Pokemon B/W 2 release date got UPDATED.
US - Sunday, 7th October 2012
UK - Friday, 12th October 2012
IMO Skarm stays relevant for being a semi decent switch in to physical dragons.
BW2 has been on Pokemon Showdown since the 22nd. Tornadus and Thundurus alt formes are annoying as fuck.
I am so mad that I have to circumvent Smogon’s rules to get my Team to work…
Hate Tornadus(his design), gotta use him…
I can use him to replace Politoed…
252 HP 170 Def 80 Sp.Df… Prankster
Typical Rain Dance and U-Turn…
Now I can make my team…
Feels good man…
So I’ve got a Wi-Fi battle coming up in a bit. I know my friend is packing a sandstorm team and will probably be running an Excadrill. Any tips on what to do if he gets it in and Sword Dances and I have no priority?
There’s not much you can do against buffed Excadrill in a SS. You either have to prey something hax survives an attack or have an appropriate wall to stall him out. Bulky waters can probably take a hit from SD Excadrill and hit back with a powerful surf/scald, for example. The minute Excadrill enters the sandstorm he will probably be the fastest pokemon in that metaplay, so always just keep something for him especially if you know your friend is going to be packing a SS team.
I’m really digging Tornadus Therian Forme and these new tutor moves. Base 121 Speed and Regenerator are extremely useful. Losing 15 Attack points is somewhat negligible because Super Power OHKOs TTar with a neutral nature and 0 EVs and Life Orb. Normal Tornadus could do the same with Hammer Arm, but Hammer Arm Sucks. It’s a good thing that tutor moves aren’t exclusive to one form. Heat Wave is great for OHKOing Metagross, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Scizor and other random stuffout of rain. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t do enough to handle SPDef Jirachi in rain.
CB Adamant Azumarill is guaranteed to OHKO with Aqua Jet after SR. It does 2 points shy of OHKOing at the minimum.
Adamant Conkeldurr Mach Punch is a 2HKO without the guts boost.
Relaxed Unaware Quagsire can take any hit from it if you give Def and HP EVs and Recover off the damage. You can KO it with your choice of Scald or Earthquake.
Gliscor is about the most viable check that you will find, but you might get Flinched to death by rock slide.
If you’re really that scared of it though, just tell him not to use it and play by Smogon rules or something. Since you’re not playing by Smogon standard rules, just be a douche and put his entire team to sleep and shuffle. Or run a Swift Swim team and give him a taste of his own nasty medicine.
For a really simple revenge killer you could use Scarfed Cloud Nine Golduck, but Golduck kind of sucks for anything other than that.
So is Terrakion as big of a threat as I’ve been hearing? Not playing competitively anymore but when I looked at his typing and stats it looked pretty beastly.
Terrakion is pretty deadly, with two powerful stabs in fighting/rock and a respectable speed base he can easily put dents into teams. To make matters worst he learns Swords Dance and Rock Polish, which boost his already high ATK/SPE and is resistant to S/R. Not too many pokemon can switch in on Terrakion and be expected to live.
Sounds like an Effin’ T-800. Speaking of Quadrapeds, how does Afrobull and Grass Deer fare? In this speed heavy metagame Afrobull probably is UU/NU or something, right?
Afrobull is RU, which is below UU but above NU. Sawbuck is NU. And there are too many _U tiers now.
Is there one best pokemon team or is there a counter for everything so everybody keeps mixing things up all the time?
With nearly 700 different Pokemon, each with their own unique quirks and abilities, as well as the multitude of moves they each learn, there will never be any one team that can handle everything. Best thing you can do is come up with a team you like with good synergy and teamwork between them.
Nowadays its not creating a dominate team, but coming up with a unique strategy that can survive the top threats(the stuff thats on every team, like weather and priority), or that can mess up the opponents’ strategy thereby giving you opportunity to set up your own checkmate situation.
That’s going to become even more difficult now that Black2 & White2 have dropped all these new moves and formes on us… Things that used to be solid counters to certain 'mons may not be effective in their old roles and new threats are soon to be on the rise.
Terrakion is very strong offensively and very few things actually want to switch in on it (other than shitty stuff like Golurk). Stone Edge crits are the worst. Landorus Therian Forme has Intimidate, so It’s becoming a pretty solid check to it. The Rock typing is a double edge sword, though since it can’t sweep until Scizor, Conkeldurr, Technician Breloom, Azumarill, and other priority users that hit him for super effective damage are dead.
There is a fourth member of the trio called Keldeo. It’s Water/Fighting and it has the same stats as Terrakion, but the attack and special attack are switched. It’s somewhat easier to wall, but it hits way harder off the bat because of rain. Keldeo’s rain boosted Hydro Pumps tend to 2HKO resists just like Volcarona’s Fire Blast in the Sun. Chansey and Blissey can’t even wall it because its signature move is a fighting type version of Psycho Shock. Fortunately, it has a poor movepool (doesn’t even learn Ice Beam), so certain pokemon like Amoonguss and Toxicroak can wall it hard.
What’s really threatening right now, though are the Therian formes of Tornadus and Thundurus. Mamoswine are everywhere now because of them I suspect.
As, Bious said, Afrobull and Sawsbuck are low tier, but Sawsbuck does occasionally see some use in OU on Sun teams.
Rain Dance teams are so beatable it’s ridiculous…
Also Exeguttor+Starf Berry+Harvest with Sunny Day Assist= Moody Exegguttor?
Synthesis can be used to get HP back after Harvest gives me da hookup…
Synthesis, Leech Seed, Substitute, Energy Ball…
Exeggutor has been slept on so far, but that’s only because it has to deal with that asshole Tyranitar(and to a lesser extent, Politoed) messing up its Harvesting. It’s decent, if not kinda gimmicky, but hey, I love myself some gimmicks.
I wish more people did Triple Battles. I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff from the Japanese utilizing some very unlikely Pokemon choices… I saw a guy with one of the most amazing strategies ever turn Shedinja immortal through use of Skill Swap+Sturdy along with some amazing support members. It blew my mind watching this guy simultaneously own Weather/Ubers/and the entirety of the Smogon metagame principles. Great stuff.
Speaking of Shedinja…
I kinda have this idea of making a trick team…
Swap choice items on people and break out Shedinja to force the switch…
Dope…
I’ll have a team full of Rotom forms though…
Kecleon is definitely going up here… he’s pretty good for tanking hits… and I like the idea of a team that uses your opponent’s own strength against him… swag
There’s been some changes to the tiers recently: Lets review them
Mew promoted OU: I called this shit but I had no idea it was being suspected (I don’t go on smogon much anymore). Mew’s abuse in UU shouldn’t gain much increase in OU, but it was clear he was too diverse for UU play which gave him too many advantages over the pokemon there.
Abomasnow promoted OU: This one I really don’t quite get. Too many weaknesses, shitty weather, no pokemon in the tier that can take many advantages from it. But, that in itself could be Abomasnow’s greats strength. 100% blizzards is awesome for Dragon sniping, and he can revenge kill Tornadus with a choice scarf and max spe EVs.
Deoxys-D promoted OU: I figured this might happen, his only drawback is his terrible psychic typing which grant other walls like Ferro/Gliscor better resistances. I can see people going with those pokemon than Deoxys-D, but I suppose it has its usefulness in the tier with its counters Scizor and T-Tar out of the way.
Keldeo to OU - Great typing, speed, 128 special base. Nuff said.
Porygon Z to UU - LOL I remember this thing was BEASTING OU early D/P, and he just got promoted to UU where he can do some stuff. Tri Attack + Adapt + STAB is pretty stupid, and with choice scarf he speed gets fixed.
Snover to UU: This should of been Abomasnow o_O but I guess with evolite it can do some things.
Scrafty downgraded to UU: Hmm, I agree with this. Offensively he’s fine, but he’s too slow and the fighting weakness is glaring enough. I don’t even think the DD set really helps it much 
Meinshao downgraded to UU: Too frail for OU, Conke is better. At least he can pull the whole hit and run game better than Ambipom.
Chandelure to UU?: I can’t remember if this thing was OU or not, but too slow and typing is poor.
Wynaut to little cup: Yeah can see it do much dmg there.
Abomasnow is OU because he’s hella anti-meta right now, especially Expert Belt. The fact is the game is extremely weather oriented (now even more so) and he destroys every other weather starter free. Only one he has true trouble with is Ninetales, but Ninetales can’t switch into him for fear of EQ. Hell, the four most used people on a rain team? Owned free, Politoed and Keldeo go down to Wood Hammer, and the Therians eat Ice Shard or a Blizzard on the switch. Add to the fact that Hail makes sure no other beneficial weather is out, and he definitely can annoy the hell out of everyone.
Chandelure was already UU, but if it gets Shadow Tag it’ll go to OU with the quickness.
Thanks for the info. What’s so special about these Therian formes? Is the Pure Flying type good?