Resource Simple Questions & Simple Answers Thread (+FAQs)

[KineSquared]

(Inspiration from Jett's Simple Questions & Simple Answers Thread)
Welcome to the SQSA Thread!

As the name suggests, if you have a question that can be asked in one or a couple lines and/or answered in one post, please post it in this thread. When asking a question, make sure that your post is relevant to Ubers UU. In-game questions should be asked in Orange Islands and questions about Smogon as a whole should be asked in this thread. To avoid any ambiguity, please quote the post you are responding to when answering a question. Your answers should contain at least a brief explanation, even if it was the simplest of questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Glimmora banned? Why is Skeledirge banned? Why is X OU/UU 'mon banned?

This metagame only cares about usage in the Ubers tier. Any 'mon, from little cup to OUBL, can be banned from this tier with enough usage in Ubers.

Okay, but why do it that way? Why not allow all OU and below 'mons?

With the current method, pokemon like Ting-Lu and gliscor that see usage in both OU and regular Ubers do not overwhelm this metagame too. the usage cutoff keeps it unique, clean to understand, and forces more interesting teambuilding, which we have not found to be overly restrictive.

If this meta was promoted to being official, wouldn't it mess up 'mons tiering? How can skeledirge be UU if it's banned in Ubers UU?

This meta is not above OU, it's adjacent to OU in power level. OU viability and usage does not affect Ubers UU, and Ubers UU should never affect OU tiering, bans or usage.

Isn't this just freedom cup?

Freedom cup allowed all non legendary pokemon, similar to vgc formats. This metagame does not distringuish between legendaries, OUBL, or OU pokemon. the only thing that matters is the Ubers usage rates.

Is this a National Dex format?

No, but there is a small community trying to make it happen on discord and the Dawn side server. Links to them are pinned in our discord's "Other metagames" channel.

Is this UUbers? What is OUbers?

UUbers was the original name for Ubers UU, but was changed for clarity. We don't want our name looking like a typo. "OUbers" is a casual term for the pokemon that are Ubers by usage, the "OU" to our "UU".

 

[hollyxkid]

disclaimer: i never played this tier, just kinda lurked to see what was viable. i've never seen Annihilape once, not even in this VR, even though it's D rank in Ubers (haven't looked at usage stats, but i can't imagine them being that high)
i've been meaning to ask why is Annihilape not good, it's one of my favorite mons and i really wanted to use it

 

[FluffyPets]

disclaimer: i never played this tier, just kinda lurked to see what was viable. i've never seen Annihilape once, not even in this VR, even though it's D rank in Ubers (haven't looked at usage stats, but i can't imagine them being that high)
i've been meaning to ask why is Annihilape not good, it's one of my favorite mons and i really wanted to use it

Unfortunately, Annihilape somehow manages to reach over 4.52% usage in Ubers, so it is unavailable to play in Ubers UU.

 

[hollyxkid]

Unfortunately, Annihilape somehow manages to reach over 4.52% usage in Ubers, so it is unavailable to play in Ubers UU.

that's kind of a bummer. thank you very much for the quick feedback!

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

For Houndstone, is Fluffy or Sand Rush preferred? If Sand Rush, which of the two sand setters is best ATM?

 

[leonissenbaum]

For Houndstone, is Fluffy or Sand Rush preferred? If Sand Rush, which of the two sand setters is best ATM?

Sand rush is far preferred on sand teams, with tyrannitar. Houndstone isn't only on sand teams though, so outside of it you always use fluffy.

 

[FluffyPets]

For Houndstone, is Fluffy or Sand Rush preferred? If Sand Rush, which of the two sand setters is best ATM?

To answer your second question, Hippowdon is generally considered better in the tier, as it has a neutral type matchp into top attackers like Zacian, Palafin, and Palkia-Origin. Hippowdon also learns Whirlwind which is a very useful move against setup sweepers and to generally disrupt the opponent's game.

Edit: ttar isn't bad mind, it's got some good matchups into things like Chi-Yu and a few Arceus forms, but difficult to use reliably

 

[tr8orsrequiem]

Are all team-styles viable here (i.e. HO, bulky offense, balance, semi-stall, stall), or is it more of an HO-centric meta like OU is?

 

[leonissenbaum]

Are all team-styles viable here (i.e. HO, bulky offense, balance, semi-stall, stall), or is it more of an HO-centric meta like OU is?

All team types are viable, but not equally viable. Stall is in a bad place right now, and so is semi-stall. Stall is still viable though, still 100% usable, but way harder to build than the others. Balance, BO, and HO are all good.

 

[Mechalico]

Arceus-Electric
Arceus-Flying
Arceus-Ghost
Arceus-Steel
Arceus-Water
Basculegion-F
Shaymin-Sky

What led to these seven initial bans?

 

[KineSquared]

What led to these seven initial bans?

Our article in the flying press briefly covers this, but here's another version:
The first bans were arc water, flying, steel and electric due to them running a taunt, calm mind, judgement recover set. These types were both highly spammable and good defensively, and lead to arceus dominating the meta, and speed ties resulting from that to decide games were no fun.
Basculegion-F was banned for being extremely good with last respects. It had versatility that houndstone doesn't quite have, and can outspeed the unboosted meta with swift swim (jolly sand rush houndstone is slower than zacian). Once tera-normal became required on every team, we knew it had gone too far.
Arceus-ghost was banned in octobers via usage, but dropped in november. It acted as the ultimate spinblocker, could use the same terrifying taunt set the other forms could, and was one of the most effective e-killer forms.
Skymin was the most recent ban, for it's uncompetitiveness. Air slash lets it luck through its checks, and its speed meant it could flinch down almost everything. It made the tier much less fun to play.

 

[Qbking3]

What led to these seven initial bans?

The first 4 bans were Arceus-Water, Arceus-Steel, Arceus-Flying, and Arceus-Electric. Water, Steel, and Flying were banned because they ran what we refer in the discord as THE SET which was Judgement, Calm Mind, Recover, and Taunt with max hp and speed. This led to an unhealthy meta where about 1/2 of games came down to an Arceus speed tie. Arceus-Electric was banned because it could run THE SET, but also because it had the best boltbeam coverage with Judgement and Ice Beam which was too strong.
Basculeigon-F was banned because it was too strong with Last Respects. It would very often reverse sweep teams that were unprepared and it got out of hand. It was super restrictive on teambuilding as every team needed a tera normal on at least one of their Pokemon and it was just an overall unhealthy part of the metagame.
Arceus-Ghost was banned because its extreme killer set had far too few checks. It would 6-0 teams left and right and it got out of control. On top of that, it was a ghost type so it blocked Rapid Spin, turning Cyclizar into setup fodder making hazards impossible to remove without using a very niche option like Mandibuzz or Talonflame.
Shaymin-Sky is a ban that I was encouraging since day 1 of the tier. It's combination of Air Slash and Serene Grace led to an unhealthy mount of luck that let it beat its would-be checks. The only way to reliably check it was with Covert Cloak Blissey but that could only be used on stall. Every turn that Air Slash was used was a coinflip weighted in the favor of the user.

 

[Heatranator]

Why is darkrai so bad in this metagame? Is it simply because it gets stonewalled by magearna?

 

[KineSquared]

Why is darkrai so bad in this metagame? Is it simply because it gets stonewalled by magearna?

It's mostly outclassed by chi-yu. Dark stab is good with coverage, but darkrai relies on focus miss to hit magearna neutrally as opposed to chi-yu. Its peed is good, but it's still outsped and OHKO'd by zacian. Chi-yu is already a scarfer, and scarfing darkrai insetad of specs means you're running low on a LOT of immediate power. Dark void being nerfed really killed its only niche. It was built to be not super powerful, and to be ubers w/ dark void, but now it's just a meh mon with an okay movepool and nearly useless ability

 

[chartung17]

Where is the banlist?

 

[KineSquared]

Where is the banlist?

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-ubers-uu-tiering-and-forum-rules-welcome.3731756/

 

[Magcargo]

Is curse lugis viable?

 

[Qbking3]

Is curse lugis viable?

Generally speaking, no. I’m sure someone might get it to work cteaming in tour but the problem remains that it has no defense against phasing, isn’t threatening until several boosts, multiscale only going so far in terms of setting up a mon that needs so many boosts, and every team preparing for the much more threatening psychic type setup mons being ndw and mewtwo.

 

[Kabilapok]

Will Ubers UU be affected by the regular 3-month shift schedule?

 

[KineSquared]

Will Ubers UU be affected by the regular 3-month shift schedule?

We will follow whatever every other tiering-based format does, just like UU. If they're switching, we will too

 

[El Cero]

Is the Ladder gonna be updated anytime soon? I wanna get some experience with Arceus ghost before the LT playoffs start up.

 

[Imperial]

Is the Ladder gonna be updated anytime soon? I wanna get some experience with Arceus ghost before the LT playoffs start up.

Happens when it happens, when the next reload is i don't know.

 

[FluffyPets]

Is the Ladder gonna be updated anytime soon? I wanna get some experience with Arceus ghost before the LT playoffs start up.

The ladder is updated now