RicePigeon

May tier shifts are here Tier Rises : UU -> OU : BL -> OU : UU -> OU : BL -> OU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : BL2 -> UU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : RU -> UU : NU -> RU : BL3 -> RU : NU -> RU : BL3 -> RU : PU -> NU : PU -> NU : BL4 -> NU Tier Drops : OU -> UU : OU -> BL : OU -> UU : OU -> UU : UU -> RU : UU -> RU : UU -> RU : UU -> RU : RU -> NU : RU -> NU : RU -> NU : RU -> NU

Tier rotation time. While many new stuff introduced in Gen 6 made many Pokemon go from rags to riches in terms of tiering, there are a few cases where this was taken to the extreme, often resulting in the Pokemon's Mega Evolution getting banished to Ubers while the Pokemon itself continues to rot in mediocrity. Salamence is one of them. Salamence & Mega Salamence Tier Status (Singles, Salamence): UU Tier Status (Singles, Mega): Uber Tier Status (Doubles, Salamence): DUU Tier Status (Doubles, Mega): DUber Type (Salamence): Dragon/Flying Type (Mega): Dragon/Flying Base Stats (Salamence): 95 / 135 / 80 / 110 / 80 / 100 Base Stats (Mega): 95 / 145 / 130 / 120 / 90 / 120 Abilities (Salamence): Intimidate: Whenever this Pokemon switches in to battle, the Attack stat of all adjacent opponents is reduced by 1 stage. This ability has no effect on Pokemon with the abilities Hyper Cutter, Clear Body, or White Smoke, and will not affect Pokemon who are behind a Substitute. Against Pokemon with the ability Defiant, their Attack will be dropped by 1 stage before Defiant increases their Attack by 2 stages, for a net gain of +1 Attack. Moxie (Hidden Ability): Whenever this Pokemon scores a KO, this Pokemon's Attack stat is boosted by 1 stage. Moxie will not activate if the opponent is KOed through indirect damage, such as Sandstorm, Hail, Rocky Helmet, Poison, or Stealth Rock. In Double and Triple battles, Moxie will not activate if the Pokemon KOs one of its own teammates. Moxie will not activate if the Pokemon uses a contact move to KO an opponent with the ability Mummy. Abilities (Mega): Aerialate: Normal-type attacks used by this Pokemon will become Flying-type attacks, and will also have their base power increased by 30% (in addition to the 50% damage increase normally applied for Same Type Attack Bonuses). Table of Contents Singles UU Overview Singles OU Overview Singles Ubers Overview Doubles OU Overview Singles UU Overview ORAS Singles UU Viability: A+ ORAS Singles UU Viability: BANNED Two generations ago back in the days of Gen 4 when Salamence's base form was originally banned to Ubers, it was hard to think that such a monster would ever grace the lower tiers. While Mega Salamence ultimately suffered the same fate as regular Salamence did two generations earlier, regular Salamence has spent most of its 6th generation career flip flopping between BL and UU, going through multiple suspect tests before finally being allowed back in UU, and its not hard to see why it took multiple tries to unban it from UU. With 135/110/100 Offense stats and a wide movepool to back it up, Salamence is easily a very versatile Pokemon in UU, with a typing combined with Intimidate that allows it to check many of the tier's top threats. Salamence is not without its flaws, though. For one, it's weak to Stealth Rock, so it requires hazard control to mitigate this problem. Its typing also leaves it vulnerable to many important types, such as Fairy, Ice, Rock, and Dragon. Physical variants of Salamence are also reliant on Outrage, which is a bit of a double edged sword but most of the times will work in Salamence's favor. ORAS UU Singles Moveset: Dragon Dance Ability: Intimidate or Moxie / Item: @Lum Berry or Life Orb Nature: Naive w/ EVs: 252 Attack / 4 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed Move #1: Dragon Dance Move #2: Outrage or Dragon Claw Move #3: Fire Blast Move #4: Iron Tail or Earthquake Tips: Dragon Dance turns Salamence into a deadly sweeper, boosting its already great Attack and Speed. The second moveslot is dedicated to Dragon-type STAB. Outrage is the preferred option, as it can 2HKO Suicune with a Life Orb and becomes very difficult to wall after a +1 boost, but has the drawback of locking Salamence into the move for the next 1-2 turns and confuses Salamence afterward. Dragon Claw is a weaker, but safer alternative that doesn't lock Salamence or induce confusion. Fire Blast, while not boosted by Dragon Dance, is Salamence's best option against physically bulky Steel types such as Forretress and Mega Aggron, and is also Salamence's best option against Chesnaught. The last moveslot is dedicated to coverage. Iron Tail destroys Fairy types hoping to switch in to Outrage/Dragon Claw, but has mediocre accuracy. Earthquake can be used instead to beat Empoleon, who otherwise walls Salamence, while also giving Salamence an option to hit Nidoqueen and Entei without having to resort to Outrage or Dragon Claw. Full EV investment into Attack and Speed maximizes Salamence's sweeping potential. Naive nature gives it additional speed, making it harder to revenge kill, and is preferred over Jolly since Salamence is running Fire Blast. The options for Salamence's item depend on several factors. Lum Berry makes it easier for Salamence to set up a Dragon Dance, as it does not have to worry about being crippled by a stray Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave, while also curing Salamence of confusion once Outrage ends, allowing it to continue a sweep without having to worry about not attacking 50% of the time. Life Orb, however, significantly boosts Salamence's damage output, 2HKOing Suicune and Mega Aggron with Outrage and Fire Blast, respectively, and OHKOing Florges with Iron Tail, but leaves Salamence vulnerable to status, especially its own confusion after Outrage cools down. Either of Salamence's two abilities can be used for this set. Intimidate allows Salamence to check some physical attackers, and creates more opportunities for Salamence to set up a Dragon Dance. Moxie, on the other hand, makes Salamence's job of sweeping easier once it has acquired a boost, as it gains +1 Attack for each KO it scores, but makes Salamence's setup opportunities more of a game of high-risk-high-reward. This Salamence set can fulfill the role of either a late game sweeper or early game wallbreaker. Use Salamence's bulk and typing to find opportunities to switch it in and begin setting up a Dragon Dance. This task is made much easier if running Intimidate over Moxie, as this allows Salamence to switch in against physical attackers that it could not otherwise. However, be cautious of Ice type coverage moves, even against physical attackers with -1 from Intimidate. Recommended Teammates: Salamence appreciates having Stealth Rock off the field so that it can preserve its health, especially if using it as an early game wallbreaker or using it with Intimidate to check physical attackers. Mega Blastoise and Forretress can accomplish this with Rapid Spin, while Empoleon uses Defog. Mega Blastoise and Empoleon both synergize well with Salamence as they can switch in on the Ice type moves that threaten it. Entry hazard support makes Salamence's job as a sweeper easier, as the residual damage helps wear down bulkier threats. Forretress can provide all four entry hazards, but usually runs Stealth Rock and/or one of Spikes or Toxic Spikes. Bulky Water types, especially Suicune, can give Salamence problems, especially if they run Ice type coverage. Shaymin is a great partner as it can also provide Salamence with Healing Wish, giving it a second chance at a sweep. Rotom-Mow also works, and can provide a safe switch in opportunity with Volt Switch. Heracross, especially Choice Scarf Heracross, and Mega Aerodactyl are both fast and powerful attackers that can wear down many of Salamence's checks and counters, and are often fast enough to score a revenge kill against them. ORAS UU Singles Moveset: Mixed Attacker Ability: Intimidate / Item: @Life Orb Nature: Naive w/ EVs: 4 Attack / 252 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed Move #1: Draco Meteor Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Outrage or Iron Tail Move #4: Roost, Iron Tail, or Earthquake Tips: Draco Meteor hits many physical walls hard, and with a usable 110 base Sp.Attack, this Salamence set will find itself smacking them hard as they switch in, mistakenly expecting Salamence to be setting up Dragon Dance. Fire Blast provides coverage against the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor, as well as hitting Grass types harder. Outrage allows Salamence to smack special walls on the physical side, most notably Blissey and Umbreon, both of which can often safely stomach a Draco Meteor. Iron Tail is an alternative move to use if coverage against Fairy types are needed, and is Salamence's best option against Florges. For the final slot, Roost helps mitigate Life Orb recoil and improves Salamence's longevity greatly. Earthquake can be used instead to beat Empoleon, who otherwise walls Salamence, while also giving Salamence an option to hit Nidoqueen and Entei. If running Outrage in the 3rd slot, Iron Tail can be used here for the coverage it provides against Fairies. The given EV spread maximizes Salamence's Speed and Sp.Attack, allowing it to hit as hard as possible. As a mixed attacker, Naive is chosen once again so as to not inhibit Salamence's mixed attacking capabilities. The +Speed increase of Naive is preferred over other natures, as it allows Salamence to outspeed Pokemon such as Hydreigon, Lucario, and Krookodile, all of which commonly run +Speed natures themselves and would outspeed Salamence without Naive. While it may make sense to run a Hasty nature as the Defense drop could be compensated for with Intimidate, it hinders Salamence's ability to check dangerous physical attackers such as Heracross and Infernape. Life Orb is the item of choice, giving Salamence as much mixed attacking power as possible. Intimidate is chosen over Moxie on this set for two reasons; one, this Salamence is primarily a Special Attacker, and will be switching in and out frequently, so it will rarely get the opportunity to utilize the Moxie boosts, if at all. The second reason is that it provides Salamence with more switch-in opportunities. This Salamence set should be used primarily as a wallbreaker, smashing the opponent's Pokemon with Draco Meteor unless they carry a Steel or Fairy type, both of which are threatened by Salamence's coverage moves. As such, it is still a good idea to spam Draco Meteor, as not many Pokemon in UU that don't resist it hand handle it. Recommended Teammates: Salamence appreciates having Stealth Rock off the field so that it can preserve its health, especially if using it as an early game wallbreaker or using it with Intimidate to check physical attackers. Mega Blastoise and Forretress can accomplish this with Rapid Spin, while Empoleon uses Defog. Mega Blastoise and Empoleon both synergize well with Salamence as they can switch in on the Ice type moves that threaten it. Entry hazard support makes Salamence's job as a wallbreaker easier, as the residual damage helps wear down bulkier threats. Forretress can provide all four entry hazards, but usually runs Stealth Rock and/or one of Spikes or Toxic Spikes. As a wallbreaker, this Salamence creates various opportunities for sweepers and cleaners to come in and start picking off weakened opponents, especially once the opponent's walls and defensive cores have been removed. Mega Aerodactyl, Suicune, Feraligatr, Lucario, and Heracross are only a few examples. ORAS UU Singles Moveset: Physically Defensive Ability: Intimidate / Item: @Leftovers or Rocky Helmet Nature: Impish w/ EVs: 248 HP / 236 Defense / 24 Speed Move #1: Dragon Claw Move #2: Earthquake or Toxic Move #3: Roost Move #4: Dragon Tail, Roar, or Defog Tips: Dragon Claw is Salamence's STAB option, and has good neutral coverage. Earthquake lets Salamence deal damage to the Steel and Poison types common to UU. Toxic, however, can be used instead to cripple many of Salamence's common switch-ins, such as Swampert and Hippowdon. Roost provides Salamence with reliable recovery, allowing it to further sponge physical attacks. For the last slot, Dragon Tail and Roar both force the opponent to switch, causing them to rack up entry hazard damage and also forcing Salamence out of unfavorable situations. Dragon Tail deals chip damage to the opponent thanks to Salamence's high base Attack, even with no investment, but has imperfect accuracy and is blocked entirely by Substitute and Fairy types. Roar never misses, bypasses Substitute and hits Fairies, but does not deal damage on its own and can be disabled by Taunt. If shuffling the opponent's team isn't needed, Defog can be run in this slot instead, as Salamence is just bulky enough to act as a form of entry hazard control for the team despite being weak to Stealth Rock itself. As a physically defensive Pokemon, the given EV spread aims to make Salamence as physically bulky as possible, allowing it to check physical attackers. 24 EVs are dedicated to Speed for the sole purpose of outspeeding Adamant Honchkrow. 248 EVs in HP are chosen over 252 so that Salamence is given an odd number HP value, allowing it to switch in to Stealth Rock 4 times and still have only 1 HP remaining. Leftovers is the preferred item, as it improves Salamence's longevity with passive recovery. Rocky Helmet, however, allows Salamence to further punish physical attackers, especially those running U-Turn, as many physical attacks also happen to be contact moves. Intimidate is chosen to further boost Salamence's physical bulk, allowing it to deal with more threatening physical wallbreakers. As a physical wall, this Salamence is reserved for more defensive teams. As such, make use of Intimidate and Salamence's natural bulk to switch it in. As with all Salamence's sets, be very cautious against Pokemon that carry Ice-type coverage moves. Recommended Teammates: If not running Defog, Salamence appreciates having Stealth Rock off the field so that it can preserve its health, especially if using it as an early game wallbreaker or using it with Intimidate to check physical attackers. Forretress and Tentacruel can accomplish this with Rapid Spin, while Empoleon uses Defog. These three all synergize well with Salamence as they can switch in on the Ice type moves that threaten it. If running Dragon Tail or Roar, entry hazard support makes these two moves much more spammable and threatening, as the forced switching will build up residual damage and help wear down the opponent. Forretress can provide all four entry hazards, but usually runs Stealth Rock and/or one of Spikes or Toxic Spikes. Special Walls, such as Porygon2, Umbreon, Blissey, and Florges compliment Salamence's physical bulk, acting as a switch-in to Special attacks. Blissey and Porygon2 are the most notable, as Salamence covers their Fighting type weaknesses, while Porygon2 and Blissey can both deal with common Ice and Fairy attacks. Porygon2 is also a good check to Mega Aerodactyl, Hydreigon, and opposing Salamence, all of which can threaten Salamence. Both Umbreon and Blissey can provide Heal Bell support, as this Salamence set is susceptible to status. ORAS UU Singles Moveset: Choice Scarf Ability: Moxie / Item: @Choice Scarf Nature: Jolly or Naive w/ EVs: 252 Attack / 4 Sp.Defense / 252 Speed Move #1: Outrage Move #2: Dragon Claw Move #3: Earthquake or Fire Blast Move #4: Iron Tail Tips: Outrage is Salamence's most powerful STAB attack. As a cleaner, this Salamence's best option, allowing it to accumulate Moxie boosts after KOing weakened opponents. While it may seem counterintuitive to run two physical attacks of the same type on the same set that aren't utility moves, Dragon Claw provides Salamence with a secondary STAB move that does not lock it in for the next 2-3 turns. The third moveslot is dedicated to Steel type coverage. Earthquake gives Salamence an option to hit Poison types as well as Steel, while Fire Blast deals more damage to Forretress and Mega Aggron, and is also Salamence's best option against Chesnaught. Iron Tail provides necessary coverage against Fairy types despite its bad accuracy. The given EV spread maximizes Salamence's Speed an Attack, with a Speed boosting nature. 4 EVs are put into Sp.Defense for the explicit purpose of preventing Porygon2 and PorygonZ from obtaining Sp.Attack boosts from Download. Naive should only be run if using Fire Blast, otherwise Jolly is the preferred nature. Moxie pairs well with a Choice Scarf, enabling Salamence to turn into a threatening late game cleaner with Outrage as it accumulates Attack boosts one after another. Unlike most Choice Scarf users, Choice Scarf Salamence is a mediocre revenge killer due to its reliance on both Moxie and Outrage. Instead, it should be used exclusively as a late game cleaner, where it is more likely for it to stay in and accumulate Moxie boosts on weakened opponents, making it hard to stop. As such, it is reserved for offensive teams only. Earthquake, Fire Blast, and Iron Tail require prediction to use correctly, but will generate massive offensive momentum once they hit their intended targets. Note that Fire Blast does not benefit from Moxie due to being a Special Attack. Recommended Teammates: Salamence appreciates having Stealth Rock off the field so that it can preserve its health, especially if using it as an early game wallbreaker or using it with Intimidate to check physical attackers. Mega Blastoise and Forretress can accomplish this with Rapid Spin, while Empoleon uses Defog. Mega Blastoise and Empoleon both synergize well with Salamence as they can switch in on the Ice type moves that threaten it. Entry hazard support makes Salamence's job as a cleaner easier, as the residual damage helps wear down bulkier threats. Forretress can provide all four entry hazards, but usually runs Stealth Rock and/or one of Spikes or Toxic Spikes. Azelf and Froslass, however, are the most notable hazard setters on offense teams that this Salamence set finds itself on As a cleaner, this Salamence set is only effective against weakened teams, thus a wallbreaker or sweeper are necessary to heavily dent the opponent's team. Hydreigon, Feraligatr, Lucario, Mega Swampert, and Tyrantrum are all good choices for this. Singles UU Checks and Counters to Salamence Porygon2 is a great answer to Salamence, as not only does it sport great bulk with Eviolite, but also also Trace Salamence's Intimidate and KOs with Ice Beam. It should be noted that Specially Defensive variants of Porygon2 can be 2HKOed with Life Orb Outrage. Cresselia sports just enough bulk to avoid a 2HKO from many of Salamence's attacks, even with a Moxie boost in some cases. Cresselia can then retaliate by crippling Salamence with Thunder Wave, or KOing it with Moonblast or Ice Beam. Fairy and Steel types can easily switch in on Salamence's STAB Dragon type moves, but must watch out for the appropriate coverage move (Iron Tail for Fairies, Fire Blast and Earthquake for Steels). Granbull has a notable niche among the Fairy types as being the only UU viable Fairy type that is not 2HKOed by Iron Tail. Bulky Water types can often deal with Salamence, as they can burn it with Scald or KO with Ice Beam. Suicune, Empoleon, normal Swampert, and even Vaporeon can all accomplish this. However, these Pokemon but watch out for Life Orb variants of Salamence. Stealth Rock (etc...) Stealth Rock greatly hinders Salamence's ability to switch in, shaving it of 25% of its health every time and making it difficult to set up, especially if it is being forced to switch. Salamence is susceptible to being revenge killed by opponents faster than it. Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Sceptile, and most Choice Scarfers can all outspeed and revenge kill all variants except Dragon Dance and Choice Scarf variants. Priority users such as Entei, Mega Abomasnow, Lucario, and Mega Absol can revenge kill even boosted and Scarfed Salamence, but only Mega Abomasnow can threaten to KO a healthy Salamence. Singles OU Overview ORAS Singles OU Viability: D ORAS Singles OU Viability: BANNED My how the mighty have fallen. Mega Salamence proved to be too much for OU to handle, exhibiting levels of brokenness not seen since Mega Kangaskhan back when X&Y was first released. With its Mega Evolution denied to it, Salamence finds itself outclassed by virtually every Dragon type in OU. As a Dragon Dancer, it is outclassed by Dragonite, Mega Altaria, Mega Charizard X, Mega Gyarados, and even Mega Tyranitar. As a special and mixed attacker, it finds itself outclassed by Mega Altaria and Black Kyurem. As a Choice Scarf user, it fails in comparison to other common Scarf users such as Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, Keldeo, Black Kyurem, and others. What was once a Pokemon that was banned to Ubers two generations ago is now just a shadow of its former self. Still, Salamence does have one unique niche in OU that prevents it from being F rank, and that is its defensive set. Defensive Salamence provides the unique combination of Defog + Intimidate + Bulk + Special movepool, which allows it to take on some of OU's prominent hazard setters. Unlike Latios and Latias, two other special attacking Dragon type Defoggers, Salamence does not find itself trapped by Pursuit users, but still finds itself losing to Garchomp and Mamoswine. To use Salamence effectively in OU, one has to capitalize on its unique niche, otherwise you're just better off using another Dragon type. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Physically Defensive Ability: Intimidate / Item: @Leftovers Nature: Timid or Jolly w/ EVs: 248 HP / 180 Defense / 80 Speed Move #1: Defog Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Hydro Pump or Earthquake Move #4: Roost Tips: Defog allows Salamence to perform the role of entry hazard removal. Fire Blast allows Salamence to roast Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Klefki, all common users of Spikes. It also allows Salamence to check Mega Scizor and Excadrill. The third moveslot completes Salamence's coverage against common hazard setters. Hydro Pump is Salamence's prime option for coverage against common Ground type Stealth Rock setters, most notably Hippowdon, Landorus-Therian, and Rhyperior, while also hitting Fire types such as Talonflame. Earthquake can be used instead to deal greater damage to Heatran, Tyranitar, and Specially Defensive Jirachi. Roost provides Salamence with longevity, and allows it to stall out slower Stone Edge users by temporarily removing its Rock weakness. 248 EVs in HP allows Salamence to switch in to Stealth Rock four times while only having 1 HP left over. 80 Speed EVs with a Timid/Jolly nature are used specifically for outspeeding everything up to and including Timid Heatran and Jolly Diggersby. The remaining EVs are put into Defense with Intimidate to give Salamence as much physical bulk as possible. Timid should be used if running Hydro Pump, while Jolly should be used if running Earthquake. Even with the -10% Sp.Attack penalty from Jolly, Fire Blast still deals enough damage to its intended targets. Leftovers is the preferred item of choice, providing Salamence with additional longevity and helping to mitigate damage from Stealth Rock. This Salamence fits best onto bulky Defensive teams that need a Defogger that isn't afraid of common entry hazard setters When using Salamence, you should always switch it in against a hazard setter that it can beat 1-on-1 with its coverage options, before they get a chance to set up Stealth Rock, as this will severely limit Salamence's ability to switch in. From there, Salamence should either attack or use Defog. Keep Salamence away from status at all times, as Paralysis prevents it from temporarily removing its Rock weakness against the opponent, while Burn and Poison will cut into its longevity. Recommended Teammates: Cleric support is almost mandatory for Salamence, in order to ensure that it stays free of debilitating status. Clefable, Chansey, and Celebi are the most notable users of Heal Bell; Chansey can use Toxic to cripple opponents and helps Salamence stall them out, Clefable can switch into Dragon type attacks and beat bulky Water types with Calm Mind, while Celebi can switch into Water type attacks while Salamence can check Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor with Fire Blast. Heatran makes for an excellent partner, being able to switch in against Latias, Latios, and Fairy types while Salamence can check Heatran's Ground-type switch-ins with Hydro Pump. Skarmory, specifically Specially Defensive Skarmory, also acts as a check to Dragon types, while also threatening Fairy types, especially Mega Diancie. Furthermore, running Defog on Salamence allows you to free up a moveslot on Skarmory, allowing it to fit in another support move such as Spikes. Even with no physical Defense investment, Specially Defensive Skarmory is still physically bulky enough to compliment Salamence's physical bulk, allowing the two of them together to check most physical attackers in OU. Bulky variants of Talonflame appreciate Salamence as a teammate; Salamence can switch into physical walls and threaten Heatran while removing Stealth Rock from its side of the field, while Talonflame can handle Fairy types and Celebi. Singles OU Checks and Counters to Salamence Clefable is perhaps the most notable Stealth Rock user able to beat Salamence 1-on-1. Hippowdon is another that can take on any Salamence that lacks Hydro Pump or Toxic, eventually PP stalling Salamence out of Defogs while it still has plenty of Stealth Rock PP left. Many Fairy types threaten Salamence in OU, as many tend to be specially bulky. Mega Diancie, although does not like taking a Hydro Pump, can easily outspeed Salamence and KO with Moonblast. Clefable can simply use Salamence as setup fodder for Calm Mind, while Azumarill, Mega Gardevoir, and Sylveon all threaten with Play Rough and Pixilate Hyper Voice, respectively. (M.Latias) Faster Pokemon with super effective coverage moves are not afraid to take on Salamence. Latios and Latias are notable as they can switch in on any of defensive Salamence's moves and threaten with Draco Meteor, while Mega Latias can use Salamence as setup fodder. Garchomp is another, though takes neutral damage from both Hydro Pump and Earthquake. Starmie can also switch in as Salamence defogs and threaten with Ice Beam, or gain an Analytic boost if it attempts to switch out. Black Kyurem can also outspeed and threaten to KO with its powerful Ice Beams. Bulky setup sweepers can often switch into Salamence's attacks and proceed to set up. Examples of such Pokemon include Mega Slowbro, both Gyarados, Suicune, Keldeo, Mega Altaria, Celebi, and even Specially Defensive Gliscor sets. Although it cannot setup stat boosts, Rotom-Wash can set up Will-o-Wisp, crippling its longevity while being able to easily switch into any of its attacks. Singles Ubers Overview ORAS Singles Ubers Viability: F ORAS Singles Ubers Viability: S Salamence has long dreamed of soaring high into the sky. Salamencite, however, made Salamence fly too high. Imagine back in the pre-ORAS days of XY when Mega Pinsir was the king of OU. Imagine taking XY Mega Pinsir, duct-taping a Latios to its back and giving it the TM for Fire Blast. That's Mega Salamence in a nutshell. Not only did this thing get banned from OU, but it quickly became THE most threatening Mega Evolution in the entire Ubers metagame after Mega Rayquaza got banned. 95/130/90 defensive stats is sold by Ubers standards, and that's not even taking into account the fact that Salamence has Intimidate prior to Mega Evolving. Coupled with 145 base Attack and Aerialate, much of the Ubers tier is ill-prepared to handle Flying type attacks. Its stats, coupled with its abilities and typing, makes it a fantastic check to big threats such as Primal Groudon, Arceus-Normal, Ho-oh, and even Mega Blaziken, making Mega Salamence stupidly easy to fit onto any team. In fact, the opportunity cost of all other Ubers viable Mega Evolutions is reduced solely due to how good Mega Salamence is. As threatening as Mega Salamence is, it still finds itself with an exploitable 4x Ice weakness and a weakness to Stealth Rock, but more often than not its pros grossly outweigh its cons that it should be no surprise why this thing got banned from OU. ORAS Ubers Singles Moveset: Mega Offensive Dragon Dance Ability: Intimidate (Aerialate) / Item: @Salamencite Nature (1): Jolly w/ EVs: 252 Attack / 4 Defense / 252 Speed Nature (2): Adamant w/ EVs: 48 HP / 252 Attack / 212 Speed Move #1: Dragon Dance Move #2: Roost Move #3: Double-Edge or Return Move #4: Earthquake, Substitute, or Refresh Tips: Dragon Dance allows Mega Salamence to outspeed all unboosted Pokemon in Ubers after a single use, and with +1 Attack under its belt, becomes a very potent and threatening sweeper. Roost, coupled with Mega Salamence's bulk, allows it to repeatedly come in to set up Dragon Dance, increasing its own longevity while its offensive presence decreases that of your opponent. Double-Edge, despite the recoil, hits stupidly hard with STAB and Aerialate boost, and not that many Ubers viable Pokemon can resist it. For a frame of reference, Aerialate Double-Edge hits harder than Dragon Ascent from a Life Orb Rayquaza. However, the recoil will force Mega Salamence to Roost often. Return is a weaker, but safer alternative to Double-Edge that can be used if the recoil is offputting. For the last slot, Earthquake is the preferred move for coverage, hitting Rock and Steel types that resist its Flying type STAB. Substitute and Refresh are both options to help mitigate problems with status, with Substitute blocking status while Refresh allows Mega Salamence to cure itself of status. The first EV spread with a Jolly nature maximizes Salamence's Speed and Attack, while also allowing it to Speed tie with max Speed Arceus formes. The second EV spread with an Adamant nature sacrifices Mega Salamence's ability to speed tie with Arceus for extra hitting power and bulk to give it an easier time setting up Dragon Dance, while still outspeeding all Pokemon with base 100 Speed and below. If not running Earthquake, removing Steel type Pokemon should be the number one priority before attempting to set up a Dragon Dance with Mega Salamence and attempting a sweep. It should be noted that certain Steel type Pokemon, such as Klefki and Aegislash, lack reliable forms of recovery, so they can be worn down with repeated switch ins to Double-Edge/Return. If not running Substitute or Refresh, caution should be taken so as to not be hit by a stray Burn or Paralysis, as this can easily prevent Mega Salamence from sweeping. If running Double-Edge over Return, be very cautious about how much recoil damage Mega Salamence takes, especially since the recoil damage is proportional to its sheer power after both Aerilate and Dragon Dance boosts. Other Moveslot options Thrash: Thrash is an alternative over Double-Edge and Return that has the same base damage as Double-Edge without the recoil, but locks Salamence into the move for 2-3 turns, leaving it susceptible to Steel type switchins such as Dialga, Klefki and Skarmory. Facade: Facade is a situational, albeit effective, alternative over Double-Edge and Return that, while it requires Mega Salamence to be afflicted with status, deals more damage than Double-Edge and ignores the Attack drop from Burn. However, if Mega Salamence does not find itself statused, Facade's damage will leave a lot to be desired. Fire Blast: Fire Blast can be run in the fourth moveslot as a coverage move specifically for dealing with Skarmory, who otherwise walls Mega Salamence. Recommended Teammates: Rayquaza is the perfect teammate for Mega Salamence. While they double up on each other's weaknesses due to identical typing, the two of them combined provide a sheer amount of offensive pressure, easily breaking down walls on defensive teams while wearing down their shared checks & counters. Entry hazard support can make Mega Salamence's job easier, wearing down switch ins and allowing it to obtain KOs that it could not otherwise. Primal Groudon is the most notable, as are Dialga and Klefki for their ability to switch into the Rock, Fairy and Ice type attacks that threaten Mega Salamence. While Mega Salamence can break through walls, it still has trouble dealing with Lugia and Skarmory, the latter especially if Mega Salamence lacks Fire Blast. Darkrai and Yveltal can both deal with these two. Yvetal, like Mega Salamence, has a weakness to Stealth Rock, which Darkrai lacks, but overall has better bulk and longevity than Darkrai. If not running Fire Blast or Earthquake, Ho-oh can prove to be a great teammate for its ability to remove Steel types for Mega Salamence, while simultaneously checking Xerneas. Do note that Ho-oh stacks a Stealth Rock weakness with Mega Salamence. Defog users are handy for removing Stealth Rock from Mega Salamence's side of the field. The various formes of Arceus that common run support movesets are prime choices. Latias, Latios, and Origin Giratina can also be used, but share Ice, Dragon, and Fairy weaknesses with Mega Salamence. ORAS Ubers Singles Moveset: Mega Bulky Dragon Dance Ability: Intimidate (Aerialate) / Item: @Salamencite Nature: Impish w/ EVs: 248 HP / 136 Defense / 124 Speed Move #1: Dragon Dance Move #2: Roost Move #3: Return Move #4: Refresh Tips: Dragon Dance allows Mega Salamence to become a very potent and threatening sweeper with a large amount of bulk to spare. Roost, coupled with Mega Salamence's bulk, allows it to repeatedly come in to set up Dragon Dance, increasing its own longevity while its offensive presence decreases that of your opponent. Return, after receiving the boost and type change from Aerialate, becomes a reliable hard hitting STAB attack with no drawbacks, especially when Mega Salamence is gaining multiple boosts. Refresh allows Mega Salamence to set up in the face of status users such as Ho-oh, Primal Groudon, and Lugia, removing debilitating Burns, Paralysis, and Poison that would otherwise limit its sweeping potential. 124 EVs in Speed allows this Mega Salamence set to outspeed all base 90 Speed Pokemon before acquiring a Dragon Dance boost. The remaining EVs are put into HP and Defense with an Impish nature to make Mega Salamence as physically bulky as possible. Unlike the Offensive Dragon Dance set, this set does not require Dragon Dance boosts in order to beat Primal Groudon, Ho-oh, or Arceus-Normal due to its bulk, Refresh, and Intimidate prior to Mega Evolving, so it can be used early in the game to pivot into these Pokemon. Unlike the Offensive Dragon Dance set, this set's bulk and running of Refresh allows it to be used for its utility as a status absorber and effective check to Ho-oh. Due to its bulk, Intimidate retains usefulness, so delaying the Mega Evolution with this set may sometimes be the best course of action. Do note however that this Salamence set will not be able to outspeed Primal Groudon until it Mega Evolves. Because of no passive recovery and a weakness to Stealth Rock, it is important to use Refresh to remove status, especially Burn and Poison, whenever possible. Other Moveslot options Body Slam: Body Slam can be used instead of Return to provide this Mega Salamence set with even more utility, allowing it to spread Paralysis to the opponent's team, but the decrease in damage, even with the Aerialate boost, is noticeable and will require more Dragon Dance boosts to compensate for the power drop. Recommended Teammates: Arceus-Rock makes an effective Defog user for this set, as it acts as a secondary check to Ho-oh while removing Stealth Rock for Mega Salamence. Other formes of Arceus, as well as Latios, Latias, and Origin Giratina make for excellent Defoggers, but the latter three stack Dragon, Ice, and Fairy weaknesses with Mega Salamence. Aegislash is an effective teammate, as this Mega Salamence set has problems dealing with Xerneas, which Aegislash can easily handle. Aegislash can also pursuit trap Latios and Latias and cripple Primal Groudon and Lugia with Toxic, both of which are common checks to this Mega Salamence set. Specially Defensive Primal Groudon can provide both Stealth Rock support and spreading of burns with Lava Plume, and is also an effective check to many of this Mega Salamence set's checks, especially Xerneas. In fact, the only Mega Salamence check Primal Groudon will have issues with is Lugia. Sometimes a Pokemon's worst enemy can also be its best teammate, and Lugia is no exception. Lugia provides a good amount of support for bulky Mega Salamence, checking Primal Groudon and Xerneas and whittling opponents down with Toxic and Whirlwind/Dragon Tail, while Bulky DD Mega Salamence can absorb the status moves aimed at Lugia in return. Singles Ubers Checks and Counters to Salamence Lugia is by far the most reliable check to Mega Salamence, phazing it out with Whirlwind or Dragon Tail, while Ice Beam variants can simply 2HKO. Lugia can also take multiple hits from Mega Salamence, though will not be able to safely switch in if Mega Salamence already has a Dragon Dance boost under its belt, especially if Stealth Rock is set up on Lugia's side of the field. If Mega Salamence lacks Earthquake, Primal Groudon can threaten Offensive Dragon Dance sets by threatening a 2HKO with Stone Edge after Stealth Rock damage. Bulky DD Mega Salamence, however, can safely avoid a 2HKO and use the opportunity to set up Dragon Dance while Roosting to keep itself healthy. If Salamence has not yet Mega Evolved, it can also avoid being KOed as long as Primal Groudon has been Intimidated. Bulky DD sets can also avoid the burn from Lava Plume by running Refresh. Dialga commonly runs Shuca Berry specifically for Mega Salamence, avoiding the KO from Earthquake and OHKOing back with Draco Meteor. Skarmory easily walls any Mega Salamence that isn't running Fire Blast, and either phaze it out with Whirlwind, strike back with Counter, or set up Stealth Rock. Arceus-Rock can easily take multiple Double-Edges and use Will-o-Wisp against Offensive DD sets that aren't running Substitute or Refresh or OHKO both sets with Judgement after Stealth Rock damage, but will have problems taking a +1 Earthquake if it lacks any Defense investment. Similarly, Arceus-Electric and Mega Metagross can both take repeated Double-Edges and OHKO with Ice Beam and Ice Punch, respectively, but are both OHKOed by Earthquake variants after Stealth Rock. Klefki can use Prankster Thunder Wave to disable Mega Salamence, but is prone to being worn down by repeated hits and variants running Refresh can circumvent this problem. Klefki also doesn't enjoy taking a +1 Earthquake, either. Deoxys-Attack can easily revenge kill Mega Salamence with Psycho Boost after Stealth Rock damage, but requires Deoxys-Attack to be at full health with Focus Sash intact in order to do so. Doubles OU Overview ORAS Doubles OU Viability: Tier 3 ORAS Doubles OU Viability: BANNED Doubles is a world where even the most broken Mega Evolutions in Singles, even Mega Kangaskhan, become much more balanced due to the faster pace. You have to give Mega Salamence props though, because while Mega Kangaskhan was suspect tested a total of THREE times and escaped a ban each and every single time, Mega Salamence surpassed Megamom by getting quickbanned in both Singles AND Doubles. Hows that for broken? Then again, Mega Salamence was designed by the same minds who thought giving Rayquaza the ability to Mega Evolve with any item was somehow a good idea. On to normal Salamence. Just like in Singles, Salamence finds itself just barely viable in the Doubles environment. It has access to Intimidate, which is good for keeping powerful physical attackers like Mega Kangaskhan in check, but we already have Landorus-Therian, normal Gyarados, and Scrafty for that. In a tier partially dominated by Mega Diancie, 100 base speed is just lackluster. Compared to other viable Dragon types, Salamence lacks any usable secondary STAB move. Its Sp.Attack is rather lackluster compared to Latios and Hydreigon, both of which can also provide the role of a Ground-immune Dragon type Tailwind user. However, Salamence does have few a niches, mostly on sun teams. It has a decent matchup against most Hyper Offense teams and can take on both Thundurus-Incarnate and sun teams. Its power may be lackluster, as it is mostly outclassed by Latios and Hydreigon, but Intimidate gives it the niche it needs to be effective otherwise. ORAS OU Doubles Moveset: Special Attacker Ability: Intimidate / Item: @Yache Berry or Life Orb Nature: Timid w/ EVs: 252 Sp.Attack / 4 Sp.Defense / 252 Speed IV Spread #1: 31/XX/31/31/31/31 (Yache Berry only) IV Spread #2: 29/XX/31/31/31/31 (Life Orb only) Move #1: Draco Meteor Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Hydro Pump or Tailwind Move #4: Protect Tips: Draco Meteor is Salamence's most powerful STAB attack, nuking many Pokemon. Fire Blast allows Salamence to roast the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor, namely Bisharp, Aegislash, and Mega Metagross. For the third slot, Hydro Pump can be used for Heatran, who otherwise walls this set, and gives Salamence an option that hits Fire, Rock and Ground types hard without having to resort to Draco Meteor. Tailwind, however, allows Salamence to support its teammates, allowing them to keep up against faster threats. Protect is a staple move of almost all Pokemon in Doubles, allowing Salamence to scout the opponent, punish double targeting, stall out unfavorable field conditions, and buy Salamence time for its teammate to take out a threat Salamence cannot handle. The given EV spread maximizes Salamence's offensive potential, maximizing Speed and Sp.Attack. Timid is preferred over Modest in order to speed tie with other positive natured base 100 Speed Pokemon, such as Mega Charizard Y and Mega Kangaskhan. For the item choice, Yache Berry helps mitigate Salamence's Ice weakness, as Ice is a common offensive typing in Doubles. Life Orb, however will give Salamence a significant increase in damage output. For the IV spreads, the only difference between the two is the HP IV. An IV of 29 in HP should only be used if running Life Orb, as this gives Salamence 329 HP, which minimizes recoil damage from Life Orb, otherwise the first spread with a max HP IV should be used instead. The Attack IV can be any value, as this Salamence is a special attacker, but ideally should be 0 in order to minimize confusion damage and damage from Foul Play. Intimidate is the ability of choice, and it is what separates Salamence from other special attacking Dragons in Doubles like Latios, Hydreigon, and Black Kyurem, otherwise you should be using one of those three instead. Ideally, Salamence should take advantage of Intimidate to switch in, nuke an opponent with Draco Meteor, and then switch out, not only removing the Sp.Attack drop from Draco Meteor but also allowing Salamence to reapply Intimidate later on. Be cautious of Bisharp, however. If running Tailwind, this can allow Salamence to still be useful with a Sp.Attack drop by allowing its teammates to outspeed faster threats. Recommended Teammates: If running Tailwind, Pokemon that are not too fast appreciate having Tailwind in order to outspeed faster threats. Mega Charizard Y and Mega Kangaskhan are two of the most notable examples, both being powerful attackers with only 100 base Speed. Other examples include Heatran, Black Kyurem, Mega Metagross, Mega Diancie, and pretty much any Pokemon with base 60 speed and higher. Mega Kangaskhan and Scrafty can provide valuable Fake Out support, allowing Salamence a turn to set up Tailwind or safely KO an opponent with Draco Meteor. Scrafty can also provide additional support with Wide Guard. Pokemon that can handle Ice type attacks, and preferably Dragon and Fairy type attacks as well, make for good teammates, so naturally Steel types pair well. Aegislash and Jirachi can provide additional support with Wide Guard and Follow Me, respectively. Although they do not resist Dragon, Water types such as Rotom-Wash and Suicune also pair well due to their Ice resistance. Bisharp not only benefits from Tailwind, but also deters potential use of Icy Wind, as doing so will grant Bisharp a free +2 Attack due to Defiant. ORAS OU Doubles Moveset: Choice Scarf Ability: Intimidate / Item: @Choice Scarf Nature: Modest or Timid w/ EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed Move #1: Draco Meteor Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Hydro Pump Move #4: Stone Edge Tips: Draco Meteor is Salamence's most powerful STAB attack, nuking many Pokemon. Fire Blast allows Salamence to roast the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor, namely Bisharp, Aegislash, and Mega Metagross. Hydro Pump is used primarily for Heatran and Landorus-Therian, as the former would otherwise wall this set. This also allows Salamence to hit Fire, Rock and Ground types harder than Draco Meteor. Stone Edge is used specifically for Mega Charizard Y, Talonflame, and Volcarona, OHKOing them even with no Attack investment. The given EV spread maximizes Salamence's offensive potential, maximizing Speed and Sp.Attack. Modest is preferred over Timid as Choice Scarf drastically boosts Salamence's speed, allowing it to easily outspeed other base 100 Speed Pokemon, such as Mega Charizard Y and Mega Kangaskhan, and Modest will be able to compensate for Salamence's otherwise lackluster Sp.Attack. A Timid nature can be used to allow Salamence to outspeed Ludicolo in the rain, but the lack of power will be noticeable. Intimidate is the ability of choice, and it is what separates Salamence from other special attacking Dragons in Doubles by giving it chances to switch in. Draco Meteor is the attack that will be used most of the time, especially if all of Salamence's attacks hit for neutral damage. Due to this, this Salamence set will be used mostly as a hit-and-run attacker. Because of Choice Scarf, Salamence needs to be careful as to what it locks itself into, especially when using Draco Meteor, as the Sp.Attack drop will easily force it out. As such, prediction is necessary when using this set. Do not use Stone Edge except against Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, or Talonflame, as it deals pitiful damage outside of handling these three Pokemon. Recommended Teammates: Choice Scarf Genesect is still one of the few Pokemon that outspeeds Choice Scarf Salamence. Heatran provides a reliable answer to it. Helping Hand support from Pokemon such as Cresselia or Jirachi can greatly increase Salamence's damage output. Jirachi can also provide support in the form of Follow Me, redirecting super effective Dragon, Fairy, and Ice type attacks away from Salamence. Pokemon that can handle Ice type attacks, and preferably Dragon and Fairy type attacks as well, make for good teammates, so naturally Steel types pair well. Aegislash and Jirachi can provide additional support with Wide Guard and Follow Me, respectively. Although they do not resist Dragon, Water types such as Rotom-Wash and Suicune also pair well due to their Ice resistance. User of Rage Powder and Follow Me can redirect threatening attacks away from Salamence, allowing it score a KO safely unless they use spread moves. Talonflame and Terrakion can provide support with Quick Guard, preventing notable priority attacks from striking Salamence. For example, Quick Guard can block Bisharp's Sucker Punch while Salamence KOes Bisharp with Fire Blast. Hall of Shame Physical Salamence: 135 base Attack may look promising, but Doubles is extremely unfavorable to most physical attackers. While notable exceptions such as Landorus-Therian, Mega Kangaskhan, and Mega Metagross obviously exist, it is the very presence of these threats that makes physical Salamence unviable, as many teams are equipped with Intimidate and Burn specificall for these Pokemon. To add further insult to injury, physical Salamence is also outclassed by many physical attackers, and Outrage is a horrible move in Doubles due to the fact that it randomly chooses its target. Doubles OU Checks and Counters to Salamence Many Pokemon that carry Ice type coverage attacks, even if they aren't Ice types themselves, are immediately threatening to Salamence. Thundurus-Incarnate, Mega Manectric, Mega Abomasnow, Mamoswine, Greninja, and Deoxys-Attack can all outspeed any set lacking Choice Scarf and potentially KO with Hidden Power [ice], Ice Shard, and Ice Beam respectively. Do note that Yache Berry variants of Salamence can avoid most KOs from these attacks. Fairy types can easily switch in to Draco Meteor and threaten with their STAB attacks. Mega Diancie is notable for being the only Fairy-type that naturally outspeeds Salamence. Other notable Fairies include Azumarill, Clefable, and Sylveon. Opposing Dragon types, namely Latios and Garchomp, are capable of naturally outspeeding non-Choice Scarf Salamence and threatening to OHKO. Although it is OHKOed by Salamence's Fire Blast, Bisharp can dissuade Salamence from switching in due to Defiant, as it gains a net gain of +1 Attack when struck with Intimidate, and proceed to KO with Sucker Punch. Tailwind() , Trick Room (), Paralysis (), Icy Wind (), & Quash () Due to its 100 base speed, opponents that would normally be outsped by Salamence can easily turn to tables on it with various methods of Speed Control. Although not as common as the others, Icy Wind is notable for also dealing 4x Super Effective damage to Salamence. Priority Taunt can prevent Salamence from setting up Tailwind and disables Protect, leaving Salamence vulnerable to attack. Since all of Salamence's attacks are single target, redirection can easily prevent Salamence from doing its job properly. Jirachi resists Draco Meteor while Togekiss, Clefable, and Clefairy are all immune to it. Amoonguss and Jirachi must watch out for Fire Blast, however. Specially bulky Pokemon, such as Cresselia and Politoed, as well as Assault Vest users such as Ludicolo and Conkeldurr, can easily tank special attacks. It should be noted that all four Pokemon listed here also carry some type of Ice type coverage move, such as Ice Beam and Ice Punch. External Links Smogon Analysis (Singles UU) Smogon Analysis (Singles OU) Smogon Analysis (Singles Ubers) Smogon Analysis (Doubles OU)

Considering the identical conditions, we look at both controllers and see that when the conditions are right, and see that both have a 50% chance of sending the player into either state, at least thats what it looks like on the surface. Remember the top-down processing order I mentioned before? With that in mind, lets follow the code again. Lets assume the conditions are right. We see that Shoryuken has a 50% chance of occuring on the first possible tick. But what about that other 50%? That other 50%, we check for the Hard Punch, which itself has a 50% chance of occuring. This means that we have a 50% chance of using our Shoryuken, a 25% chance of the Hard Punch, or nothing at all. If we want the AI to give the illusion of a human player, we want those odds to be roughly equal, so as to keep our opponent guessing like they would against a human player, as opposed to a predictable scripted AI. While it's impossible to make an AI that performs exactly as a human player would, we can at least remove the above problem from the equation. To do this, we need to take advantage of State Trees. For those of you who aren't computer science geeks, a state tree is basically a graph of all states that a state machine, such as a mugen character can be in, and all possible outcomes or paths that machine can take. In our example, since we want to script our AI so as to not be so predictable, we want our AI to be able to perform several different options when conditions are right. For example, say the conditions are right for us to use an antiair attack, such as when an opponent is jumping in, we want to be able to do one of the following; Shoryuken Hard Punch Dash backward Roll forward Jump up If we followed the pattern of the AI code snippet above, these five different actions would each have a split of 50% - 25% - 12.5% - 6.25% - 3.125% in that respective order. Ideally, each of these should have a 20% chance. Thats where this code comes in; First, in your -2 state, make sure to add the following controller; This will spawn a helper that will make all AI based decisions for us. The idea is that we are going to have the helper look at all possible conditions, look at a list of all possible states our character can go in to, randomly choose one and pass it back to the player. Now, inside our helper, we'll have the following code. We'll go over each one step by step and explain what they do. This section contains the required Statedef for our helper state, and makes it so that the helper is always bound to the player and facing the player's direction. This way, we can simply call certain triggers without the need for redirection, such as p2dist x, pos y, and so forth. Our helper's RNG. Basically, our Helper will be producing a constant stream of random numbers each tick to be used for state selection. The reason we don't simply call random in each instance is because random reinitializes itself every time it is called. If you don't understand yet, don't worry, as this will make more sense later on. This is the meat of our AI decision making: <conditions>: refers to the set of triggers you would normally put in your AI's state controllers, such as p2dist x, statetype !=A, and so on. <number of outcomes>: refers to the total number of possible outcomes you want for your set of conditions. In our above example, we have a total of 5 outcomes, so this would be set to five. <stateno of outcome #X>: this is the stateno for each of your possible outcomes In this case, var(0) is the random number that we stored earlier. Var(1) stores the state number that we wish to pass back to the root. Var(2) is merely a flag for when we want our AI tree to decide which state to go to next, and dictates how long to hold that value for before we regenerate another outcome. We dont want to generate a stateno if we already have one generated. In this setup, higher AI levels generate outcomes more frequently, providing for quicker reaction times. Here is an example of this block of code in action; In this above example, we have five possible states that our AI controlled player can go into when the following conditions are true: player 2 is lying down player 1 is not attacking player 1 is not in the air For each set of conditions, such as antiair, a certain distance between p1 and p2 is reached, etc, you will repeat this process for each set of states. Let us continue. This piece of code is what allows the helper to pass the stateno back to player 1 once the meat of the work is done. This piece of code counts down Var(2), which doubles as a buffer. Once Var(2) reaches 0, we can generate another stateno for our root player. When this happens, we tell our root player that we do not currently have a state generated by setting the value to 0 (or any other sentinel value of your choosing). This destroys the helper if the player is not under the control of AI, since the helper is no longer necessary. We're almost done. Go back to your CMD file, and under each Changestate controller where you would normally add your AI code, change each one to include the following: Basically your global conditions, such as statetype, cancel ability, power requirements, etc should be moved to triggerall. Your trigger1s should be everything related to human control. For the AI control, remember Var(58), which we used to pass the stateno value back to player 1? This tells the player to change to that state ONLY when Var(58) is the same stateno value as the one in the controller here. In this case, this tells player 1 to only change to state 220 if the AI helper tells us to. You would repeat this for every single changestate in your CMD file.

So after looking at various AI tutorial and code, I've noticed a major flaw in almost all of them that remains unaddressed. For anyone who knows Mugen code, you should know that Mugen processes states in a top-down fashion. What this essentially means is that for each state controller in a character's state, for every tick that character is in that state, Mugen will process each and every state controller in order. Take for example the following code snippet; In this case, the Changestate controller is always processed before the Varadd controller, even if the Changestate controller doesn't actually change the character's state. Therefore, once the character reaches time 20 in state number 200, assuming that var(19) is initiated to 0 at the beginning of the state, Var(19) will be set to 19 by the time the character exits state 200 (the Varadd controller will never activate at time = 20 since the character will have already left the state by then. Note that there exists a bug in WinMugen where the Varadd controller will still be processed at time=20, even though the character will have already left the state by then.). This processing order applies to all states, including the negative states -1, -2, and -3. Now let's take a look at an AI code snippet with this in mind.

AAUKVIZE LOOEKGPP GXEAKYST TOKENGLP ... Oh wait, I was dyslexic when I was reading the thread title... :(

Its been 4 days. Time to chose another victim person

Favorite Sanae moment, canon or otherwise?

I was thinking something like a tournament or something but the last time we tried that all know how that ended up...

fixed

I'm sure some of you have noticed but activity of this section has died down quite a bit. My initial thinking was that the PotW posts would generate discussion and educate newer players on how to properly use a certain Pokemon, but it seems that this is not enough. This is where I ask you; what can be done to breathe new life into this section?

Singles Ubers update Additions None Rises : D -> C Drops : A- -> B+ : B -> B- (Psychic): C -> D Removals Removed from B-: Removed from C:

Use the thread for questions like this next time. Locking.

Use the thread for questions like this next time. Locking.

Sorry for the delay, but its tier rotation time. The last Pokemon voted on was Diancie, so here it is. Diancie & Mega Diancie Tier Status (Singles, Diancie): OU Tier Status (Singles, Mega): OU Tier Status (Doubles, Diancie): DOU Tier Status (Doubles, Mega): DOU Type (Diancie): Rock/Fairy Type (Mega): Rock/Fairy Base Stats (Diancie): 50 / 100 / 150 / 100 / 150 / 50 Base Stats (Mega): 50 / 160 / 110 / 160 / 110 / 110 Abilities (Diancie): Clear Body: This Pokemon's stats cannot be lowered by an opponent's attack or ability. This ability does not prevent the user's attack from being lowered by being affected by Burn, nor does it prevent the speed reduction effect of Paralysis, and this Pokemon can still lower its own stats through the use of its own moves such as Hammer Arm and Curse. This ability is ignored if the attacks in question are used by Pokemon with with abilities Mold Breaker, Teravolt, or Turboblaze. Abilities (Mega): Magic Bounce: All non-damaging attacks and status moves, such as Taunt, Will-o-Wisp, and Screech, that target this Pokemon will be reflected back onto the user. This ability cannot reflect an attack that has already been reflected by another Pokemon's Magic Coat or Magic Bounce, and this ability will not reflect attacks used by Pokemon with the abilities Mold Breaker, Teravolt, or Turboblaze. Table of Contents Singles OU Overview Singles Ubers Overview Doubles OU Overview Singles OU Overview ORAS Singles OU Viability: D ORAS Singles OU Viability: A+ Following in the footsteps of Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, Shaymin, and Victini in earlier generations, Gen 6 provided us with another "secret" Pokemon at the end of the Pokedex with 600 BST, albeit this time around Diancie does not follow the standard base 100 stats all around formula, nor does it sport a Psychic typing as its predecessors did. Instead, Diancie's base stats reflect its Pokedex association with Carbink; being a mutated Carbink, it's base stats are virtually identical with the exception of having base 100 Attack and Sp.Attack. Despite being a superior Carbink, Diancie is still a rather mediocre Pokemon; its base 50 HP hinders its dual 150 defenses, nor does its Rock typing grant it any defensive favors. However, its semi-unique typing does allow it to come in on Dragon, Flying, and Fire type attacks rather easily. ORAS, however, saved Diancie from obscurity by granting it a Mega Evolution. Mega Diancie solves all the problems normal Diancie has by sacrificing some of its mixed defenses for additional hitting power and reaching the 110 base Speed tier, allowing it to outspeed many threats in OU. Mega Diancie also gained Magic Bounce, making it one of the few viable users in the tier (sorry to all you Espeon and Mega Absol fans out there but they're both mediocre :p). It also has a decent offensive and support movepool, allowing it to function as a mixed attacker, sweeper, or support Pokemon without having to worry about Taunt or status due to its ability. Unfortunately, like all Mega Evolutions that receive a base speed increase over their base form, Mega Diancie is a victim of Gen 6 turn order mechanics, where it still suffers from the base form's base 50 speed on the turn that it Mega Evolves. Its typing also leaves it vulnerable to common Steel, Water, and Ground attacks, leaving its susceptible to 3 of the 4 S-rank Pokemon currently in OU (Keldeo, Landorus-Incarnate, and Mega Metagross, though Mega Diancie outspeeds the former two and speed ties with the latter). ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Mega Mixed Attacker Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Naive w/ EVs: 16 Attack / 240 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed IV Spread (Non-HP Fire): 31/31/31/31/31/31 IV Spread (HP Fire only): 31/31/30/30/31/30 -or- 31/30/31/30/31/30 Move #1: Moonblast Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Earth Power or Hidden Power [Fire] Move #4: Protect or Hidden Power [Fire] Tips: Moonblast is Mega Diancie's primary STAB, hitting hard on the Special side and allowing it to OHKO most Dark and Fighting types in the tier. Diamond Storm is Diancie's secondary STAB, hitting on the physical side and allowing Diancie to wallbreak most defensive threats in conjunction with Moonblast. The third slot is dedicated to coverage against Steel types. Earth Power is the preferred option, as not only does it prevent Heatran from completely walling Mega Diancie, but OHKOs it and many Ground-weak Pokemon after Stealth Rock damage, such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Manectric, and Raikou. Hidden Power [Fire] can be used instead to cover Steel types that don't particularly care about Earth Power, such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Skarmory, but forces Mega Diancie to lose the speed tie with other base 110 speed Pokemon, as running Hidden Power [Fire] forces Mega Diancie to run an imperfect Speed IV. For the fourth slot, Protect allows Diancie to safely Mega Evolve without having to worry about its pitiful base 50 speed on the turn it Mega Evolves. It also allows Mega Diancie to play mindgames with Mega Lopunny, causing it to lose 50% of its health if it decides to use High Jump Kick on the same turn. However, if extra coverage is needed, Hidden Power [Fire] can be run in this slot instead if already running Earth Power in the 3rd slot. Full EV investment in Speed is necessary to take full advantage of Mega Diancie's base 110 speed once it Mega Evolves. 16 Attack EVs allow Mega Diancie to OHKO most Flying and Fire types with Diamond Storm, including Physically Defensive Zapdos after Stealth Rock damage, while the remaining EVs are dumped into Sp.Attack. Naive nature is chosen so as to not hinder either of Diancie's two offensive stats. The IV spreads are self explanatory; the first IV spread should only be used if not running Hidden Power [Fire], while the second and third IV spreads should be used if you are. Mega Diancie should try to Mega Evolve early in the game to take full advantage of its mixed wallbreaking capabilities. The best time to bring Diancie in is against Pokemon that cannot immediately threaten it, such as Mandibuzz and Mega Sableye. If not running Protect, you must make sure that the opponent is slower than you so that you can safely Mega Evolve. Recommended Teammates: Steel and Water type attacks, especially the priority moves Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, are very problematic for Diancie, especially the latter. Pokemon that can take these attacks, such as Heatran, Rotom-Wash, Ferrothorn, and just about every bulky Water type make for good teammates due to this. If not running Hidden Power [Fire], Magnezone can trap and kill common targets of Hidden Power [Fire], such as Ferrothorn, both Scizors, and Skarmory, who can otherwise beat Mega Diancie. Due to the entry hazard control Mega Diancie provides, Pokemon that appreciate having Stealth Rock off of the field work nicely. Talonflame and Volcarona are the most notable as their typing renders them losing 50% of their health every time they switch, and can handle Steel types that threaten Diancie. Other Stealth Rock weak Pokemon such as Thundurus-Incarnate, Gyarados, and Tornadus-Therian also work. Common checks to Diancie include Chansey, Clefable, Suicune, and Rotom-Wash. Pokemon that can lure these threats in, such as Bisharp, Garchomp, and Keldeo, can help wear them down. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Mega Rock Polish Sweeper Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Rash w/ EVs: 64 HP / 16 Attack / 252 Sp.Attack / 176 Speed IV Spread (Non-HP Fire): 31/31/31/31/31/31 IV Spread (HP Fire only): 31/31/30/30/31/30 -or- 31/30/31/30/31/30 Move #1: Rock Polish Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Moonblast Move #4: Earth Power or Hidden Power [Fire] Tips: Rock Polish doubles Mega Diancie's speed after one use, turning it into a terrifying sweeper with its dual base 160/160 offense stats. Moonblast is Mega Diancie's primary STAB, hitting hard on the Special side and allowing it to OHKO most Dark and Fighting types in the tier. Diamond Storm is Diancie's secondary STAB, hitting on the physical side and allowing Diancie to wallbreak most defensive threats in conjunction with Moonblast. The third slot is dedicated to coverage against Steel types. Earth Power is the preferred option, as not only does it prevent Heatran from completely walling Mega Diancie, but OHKOs it and many Ground-weak Pokemon after Stealth Rock damage, such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Manectric, and Raikou. Hidden Power [Fire] can be used instead to cover Steel types that don't particularly care about Earth Power, such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Skarmory. 176 Speed EVs with a neutral nature allow Mega Diancie to outspeed all neutral natured Pokemon with base 100 Speed before using Rock Polish. 16 Attack EVs allow Mega Diancie to OHKO most Flying and Fire types with Diamond Storm, including Physically Defensive Zapdos after Stealth Rock damage, while Sp.Attack is maxed out with a Rash nature so that Mega Diancie hits as hard as possible on the Special side. The remaining EVs are dumped into HP for a small amount of extra bulk. The IV spreads are self explanatory; the first IV spread should only be used if not running Hidden Power [Fire], while the second and third IV spreads should be used if you are. Note that if running Hidden Power [Fire], you will instead speed tie with neutral natured base 100 speed Pokemon instead of outspeeding. Users of the priority moves Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, such as Azumarill and Mega Scizor, should be removed before attempting to set up Rock Polish, as these Pokemon can easily revenge kill Mega Diancie. Depending on if Diancie is running Earth Power or Hidden Power [Fire], Pokemon such as Heatran, Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Scizor will need to be removed beforehand depending on the coverage move being run. Try to Mega Evolve as early as possible, as not only does Mega Diancie greatly benefit from having base 110 speed, but also allows it to switch in to common status and taunt users such as Mew thanks to Magic Bounce. Against slower foes, if Mega Diancie has not yet set up, this set can easily bluff the Mixed Attacker set, while still acting as a wallbreaker. In these cases, refer to the Mixed Attacker set tips above. Recommended Teammates: Steel and Water type attacks, especially the priority moves Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, are very problematic for Diancie, especially the latter. Pokemon that can take these attacks, such as Heatran, Rotom-Wash, Ferrothorn, and just about every bulky Water type make for good teammates due to this. If not running Hidden Power [Fire], Magnezone can trap and kill common targets of Hidden Power [Fire], such as Ferrothorn, both Scizors, and Skarmory, who can otherwise beat Mega Diancie. Latios with Hidden Power [Fire] also works, as it can lure in Scizor and Ferrothorn and severely damage them. If not running Earth Power, Pokemon that can handle common Steel types not 4x weak to Hidden Power [Fire], such as Heatran and Jirachi, will need to be removed. Landorus-Therian, Excadrill, and Keldeo can all perform this role easily. Celebi makes for an interesting teammate, as not only does it have good defensive typing that compliments Diancie's, but is also the only viable user of Nasty Plot + Baton Pass combination, which allows it to pass a +2 Sp.Attack boost to Mega Diancie, making it much more threatening once it acquires a Rock Polish boost. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Mega Calm Mind Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Timid w/ EVs: 252 Sp.Attack / 4 Sp.Defense / 252 Speed IV Spread (Non-HP Fire): 31/31/31/31/31/31 IV Spread (HP Fire only): 31/31/30/30/31/30 -or- 31/30/31/30/31/30 Move #1: Calm Mind Move #2: Moonblast Move #3: Earth Power Move #4: Hidden Power [Fire] or Psyshock Tips: Calm Mind bolsters Mega Diancie's Sp.Attack to sky high levels Moonblast is Mega Diancie's primary STAB, allowing it to OHKO most Dark and Fighting types in the tier. Earth Power is for Steel type coverage, as not only does it prevent Heatran from completely walling Mega Diancie, but OHKOs it and many Ground-weak Pokemon after Stealth Rock damage, such as Mega Charizard X, Mega Manectric, and Raikou. For the fourth slot, Hidden Power [Fire] is the preferred option, as this completes Diancie's coverage against Steel types, smacking Steel types that don't particularly care about Earth Power, such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Skarmory. Psyshock is another option that allows Diancie to hit on the physical side while not having to invest towards physical attack, and is Diancie's best option against Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur. The given EV spread maximizes Diancie's Speed and Sp.Attack, with a Timid nature emphasizing on Speed to turn it into a dangerous Calm Mind user. Because of Mega Diancie's base 110 speed, Calm Mind has a dual purpose for both wallbreaking and sweeping. The former should be performed early in the match, and the latter performed later on. Users of the priority moves Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, such as Azumarill and Mega Scizor, should be removed before attempting to set up Rock Polish, as these Pokemon can easily revenge kill Mega Diancie. Try to Mega Evolve as early as possible, as not only does Mega Diancie greatly benefit from having base 110 speed, but also allows it to switch in to common status and taunt users such as Mew thanks to Magic Bounce. The best time to bring Diancie in is against Pokemon that cannot immediately threaten it, such as Mandibuzz and Mega Sableye. Against slower foes, if Mega Diancie has not yet set up, this set can easily bluff the Mixed Attacker set, while still acting as a wallbreaker. In these cases, refer to the Mixed Attacker set tips above. If running Hidden Power [Fire], Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Chansey will need to be removed before Diancie can sweep. Likewise, if running Psyshock, then Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Skarmory will need to be removed. Recommended Teammates: Steel and Water type attacks, especially the priority moves Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, are very problematic for Diancie, especially the latter. Pokemon that can take these attacks, such as Heatran, Rotom-Wash, Ferrothorn, and just about every bulky Water type make for good teammates due to this. If not running Hidden Power [Fire], Magnezone can trap and kill common targets of Hidden Power [Fire], such as Ferrothorn, both Scizors, and Skarmory, who can otherwise beat Mega Diancie. If not running Psyshock, Amoonguss, Mega Venusaur, and Chansey will need to be removed from the opponent's team. Landorus-Incarnate with Knock Off and Keldeo can easily handle Chansey, while Keldeo with Hidden Power [Flying] and Thundurus-Incarnate with Psychic can handle Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Trick Room Setter Ability: Clear Body / Item: @Mental Herb Nature: Sassy w/ EVs: 252 HP / 88 Defense / 168 Sp.Defense IV Spread: 31/31/31/31/31/00 Move #1: Trick Room Move #2: Stealth Rock Move #3: Explosion Move #4: Diamond Storm or Moonblast Tips: Diancie's base form has just enough bulk to effectively pull off a Trick Room set for the team. Due to the aforementioned bulk, Stealth Rock is another support option for the team, which can effectively pressure the opponent once Trick Room is set up. Explosion allows Diancie to get off some damage on the opponent while simultaneously providing a free switch-in opportunity for its teammates. The fourth moveslot is dedicated to Diancie's STAB options. Diamond Storm allows it to hit Fire and Flying types for physical damage, while Moonblast hits on the Special side against Fighting and Dark types. The given EV spread aims to give Diancie as much mixed bulk as possible. Sassy nature is chosen to make Diancie slower, allowing it to become as fast as possible under Trick Room. Mental Herb is the item of choice, so as to allow Diancie to set up Trick Room or Stealth Rock even in the face of Taunt users. As the name implies, this Diancie set should only be used on dedicated Trick Room teams. This Diancie set is best used as a lead, setting up Trick Room and Stealth Rock as early as possible. Do not hesitate to use Explosion once Trick Room is set up. Even though Diancie sacrifices itself in the process, the offensive momentum it generates under Trick Room is well worth the loss of Diancie. Recommended Teammates: Naturally slow and powerful Pokemon that normally fit on Trick Room teams of course naturally fit with Diancie as a teammate. Diggersby, Victini, Crawdaunt, Bisharp, Azumarill, Conkeldurr, Reuniclus, and Mega Camerupt are all common choices. Bisharp is notable for its ability to pressure common Defog users with Defiant, who will be hard pressed to remove Diancie's Stealth Rocks. Pokemon that can switch into Grass, Water, and Ground attacks make for good teammates. Celebi, Mega Venusaur, and Ferrothorn are good choices, as they can easily fit onto Trick Room teams. Honorable Mentions Heal Bell: Diancie can run Heal Bell if needed for additional team support, but doing so may come at the cost of an important coverage move. Singles OU Checks and Counters to Diancie Many Steel types can come in and threaten Diancie if it lacks the appropriate coverage move. Heatran can threaten any Diancie lacking Earth Power, while both Scizors, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory can threaten any Diancie lacking Hidden Power [Fire]. Mega Metagross, Excadrill, and Mega Scizor can all potentially outspeed Mega Diancie, with Mega Metagross speed tied with any Diancie not running Hidden Power [Fire], Excadrill outspeeds with Sand Rush, and both Scizors can revenge kill with Bullet Punch. Specially Defensive Skarmory can do a number on Mega Diancie with Iron Head, even with minimum Attack investment. Common special walls, such as Clefable, Chansey, Hippowdon, Mew, and Alomomola can wear down Mega Diancie as long as it doesn't run Calm Mind or Psyshock. It should be noted that mixed attacker variants of Mega Diancie cannot 2HKO Chansey with Diamond Storm unless it runs max Attack, which is rare. Bulky Water and Grass types, such as Manaphy, Suicune, both Slowbros, Azumarill, Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Celebi can all threaten Diancie with their STAB moves while avoiding a 2HKO in most cases. Suicune, Manaphy, and Mega Slowbro can set up Calm Mind to further increase their special bulk, and Azumarill can revenge kill Diancie with Aqua Jet. Many revenge killers and naturally fast cleaners can KO Diancie while outspeeding it. Mega Scizor and Azumarill can accomplish this with priority Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet, respectively, and are the only ones capable of revenge killing Rock Polish Diancie. Common Choice Scarf users, such as Landorus-Therian, Garchomp, Keldeo, and Heatran can all outspeed non-Rock Polish variants and OHKO with their STAB moves. Serperior and Mega Sceptile are another option that naturally outspeed Mega Diancie, while the former can use Diancie to easily set up Sp.Attack boosts with Contrary + Leaf Storm. Singles Ubers Overview ORAS Singles Ubers Viability: C+ ORAS Singles Ubers Viability: B+ Fortunately for Diancie, its typing and Mega Evolution was just enough to make the mutant Carbink viable in the Ubers environment. Its typing allows it to check Darkrai, Yveltal, Ho-oh, and Lugia, and with normal Diancie's bulk it can still be quite useful. Mega Diancie is where it shines, outspeeding 3 of the 4 aforementioned Pokemon. It also has excellent support options, but its lack of reliable recovery often lets it down in these roles. Again, Mega Diancie is hampered by turn order mechanics that limit its effectiveness on the turn that it Mega Evolves, especially with only 50 base HP. Furthermore, it faces competition for the role of a Magic Bounce user from Mega Sableye, who is usually considered for the role due to its defensive capabilities. Mega Diancie's opportunity cost is further heightened by competition from Mega Salamence, who is often considered to be the best Mega Evolution in the Ubers tier. Mega Diancie often falls short in the faces of Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, both of whom dominate the Ubers metagame along with the aforementioned Mega Salamence. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Mega Mixed Attacker Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Timid or Naive w/ EVs: 80 Attack / 252 Sp.Attack / 176 Speed Move #1: Moonblast Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Earth Power Move #4: Protect, Heal Bell, or Calm Mind Tips: Moonblast is Mega Diancie's primary STAB, hitting hard on the Special side and allowing it to KO most Dark and Dragon types in the tier. Diamond Storm is Diancie's secondary STAB, hitting on the physical side and allowing Diancie to wallbreak past Ho-oh, Lugia, and Blissey. Earth Power is Diancie's best option for coverage, allowing it to not only hit Steel types that switch in, but also 2HKO Specially Defensive Primal Groudon after Stealth Rock damage. For the fourth slot, Protect allows Diancie to Mega Evolve safely, and can also be used to scout the opponent's Pokemon. Heal Bell is another option for team support if Mega Diancie is being run on a more offensive team, allowing it to function as an offensive cleric. Calm Mind can also be used here as Mega Diancie can safely set up in the face of Ho-oh and Lugia thanks to Magic Bounce, turning it into an effective stallbreaker. 176 Speed EVs with a Timid/Naive nature allows Diancie to outspeed all Pokemon with base 100 speed and lower. Sp.Attack is maximized in order to allow Mega Diancie to OHKO Rayquaza and Mega Salamence with Moonblast, while the remaining EVs are put towards Attack to give extra power to Diamond Storm. Even when running Diamond Storm, a Timid Nature does not significantly impact Diamond Storm's damage output against Pokemon it is meant to be used against, but if this is a concern then a Naive nature can be run instead. Although the first instinct with Diancie in OU is to Mega Evolve ASAP, in Ubers it may be worthwhile to delay the Mega Evolution if you need to survive a certain attack due to base Diancie's higher mixed bulk. This is especially more important if Diancie is not running Protect. Still, as a Magic Bounce user, you will want to try to Mega Evolve as early as possible. Despite Magic Bounce, leading with Mega Diancie is not advised as it has a poor matchup against common leads; Primal Groudon, Dialga, and Deoxys-Attack, for example, can all threaten a KO with Precipice Blades, Flash Cannon, and Psycho Boost, respectively. Because Mega Diancie lacks any kind of recovery, it is prone to being worn down over time, limiting the number of times it can switch in. Using Earth Power will require predicting the opponent's switches, as Earth Power's targets, such as Primal Groudon and Dialga, can easily dispatch Mega Diancie. Other Moveslot options Hidden Power [Fire]: Can be used over Earth Power if Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Genesect are an issue, as they hit these Pokemon much harder than Earth Power. Doing so however will force you to run an imperfect Speed IV, so you will want to run an EV spread of 76 Attack / 252 Sp.Attack / 180 Speed in order to compensate for this. Recommended Teammates: Primal Groudon, Ho-oh, and Palkia synergize well with Mega Diancie as all three can take care of Steel types for Mega Diancie. Mega Diancie helps to keep Stealth Rock off the field for Ho-oh while Ho-oh also sports a Ground immunity. Primal Groudon and Palkia can also check Primal Kyogre, who can otherwise force Diancie out. Latias, Latios, Origin Giratina, and Arceus-Ghost also synergize quite well with Mega Diancie. The former three sport a Ground immunity and all four are weak to Dark, which Diancie can handle while also providing Heal Bell support for them. Arceus-Ghost can also check Steel types for Diancie. Despite stacking a Ground weakness, Dialga is another effective check to Steel types that can also check many Arceus formes that run Calm Mind. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Mega Utility Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Bold or Impish w/ EVs: 248 HP / 124 Defense / 136 Speed Move #1: Protect Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Moonblast or Toxic Move #4: Heal Bell or Stealth Rock Tips: Protect allows Diancie to Mega Evolve safely, and can also be used to scout the opponent's Pokemon. Diamond Storm is Diancie's primary STAB, preventing it from being stalled out by common Specially Defensive Pokemon such as Ho-oh and Lugia. Moonblast is Mega Diancie's primary STAB, hitting hard on the Special side and allowing it to KO most Dark and Dragon types in the tier. Toxic, however, can be used on this moveslot instead to cripple common switch ins that aren't Steel type, such as Primal Groudon and the various Arceus formes. Heal Bell allows Mega Diancie to function as a great cleric due to its immunity to Taunt and status moves thanks to Magic Bounce. Stealth Rock can be used instead if no other teammate already has it, and it can still function as an effective Stealth Rock setter. 248 HP EVs aim to make Diancie as bulky as possible due to its poor 50 base HP. 136 Speed EVs allows Mega Diancie to outspeed everything up to and including Adamant Rayquaza. The remaining EVs are dumped into Defense with a Bold/Impish nature, as this allows Mega Diancie to avoid several KOs from prominent physical attackers, including +1 Mega Salamence's Earthquake, Rayquaza's Earthquake, and avoids a 2HKO from Choice Band Ho-oh's Brave Bird. Bold nature should be used if using Moonblast, otherwise an Impish nature should be used. Even with a Bold nature, the Attack drop does not significantly impact Diamond Storm's damage output against its intended targets. Since Mega Diancie tends to force switches, these are the best times to use Heal Bell or Stealth Rock to support the team. Protect, while useful for safely Mega Evolving, can easily give opponents a free turn of setup, so be cautious when using it. In some cases, it may be better to delay the Mega Evolution against attacks that would normally KO Mega Diancie but fail to KO normal Diancie. Despite the occasional Defense boosts from Diamond Storm, Mega Diancie will not be able to stomach Earthquakes and Bullet Punches. Recommended Teammates: Primal Groudon, Ho-oh, and Palkia synergize well with Mega Diancie as all three can take care of Steel types for Mega Diancie. Mega Diancie helps to keep Stealth Rock off the field for Ho-oh while Ho-oh also sports a Ground immunity. Primal Groudon and Palkia can also check Primal Kyogre, who can otherwise force Diancie out. Latias, Latios, Origin Giratina, and Arceus-Ghost also synergize quite well with Mega Diancie. The former three sport a Ground immunity and all four are weak to Dark, which Diancie can handle while also providing Heal Bell support for them. Arceus-Ghost can also check Steel types for Diancie. Lugia hates status, which makes it a natural candidate for a Heal Bell teammate. Lugia also hates Taunt, Stealth Rock, and Dark type attacks, all of which Mega Diancie can combat by nature of its typing and ability. In return, Lugia can check Primal Groudon for Diancie. Users of Wish and Healing Wish can help keep Diancie healthy due to its lack of recovery, thus prolonging its life and allowing it to come in multiple times during a match. Mewtwo pairs well with support Mega Diancie, as not only does it hate status moves, but also Yveltal, both of which Mega Diancie can take care of. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Non-Mega Support Ability: Clear Body / Item: @Leftovers Nature: Impish w/ EVs: 248 HP / 252 Defense / 8 Sp.Defense Move #1: Stealth Rock Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Heal Bell or Protect Move #4: Toxic or Heal Bell Tips: Stealth Rock provides massive team support, and Diancie is a good choice as it tends to deter many Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock, often forcing them out and getting a free opportunity to set up. Diamond Storm is Diancie's primary STAB, allowing to smash Ho-oh while boosting its Defense. Heal Bell allows Diancie to function as a cleric, removing status from itself and its teammates. Although it is not Mega Evolving, Protect is still useful for scouting the opponent and obtaining Leftovers recover and can be used in this moveslot instead. Toxic cripples common switch ins that aren't Steel type, such as Primal Groudon and the various Arceus formes, while punishing defensive threats, and pairs nicely with Protect. If already running Protect in the 3rd moveslot, Heal Bell can be run here instead for the reasons listed above. 248 HP EVs aim to make Diancie as bulky as possible due to its poor 50 base HP. Defense is maximized with an Impish nature to help Diancie with switching into physical attacks. The remaining 8 EVs are put into Sp.Defense to help combat Yveltal, which Diancie still threatens. Leftovers provides Diancie with passive recovery. Due to not running Diancie's Mega Stone, this Diancie set is played less aggressively than its Mega Evolved counterpart. Even with Leftovers and better bulk, Diancie is still prone to being worn down over time, so its health should be kept as high as possible. Although short lived, this set can often bluff its Mega Evolution on the first turn out, as many people will expect Mega Diancie over the base form. When playing against Stall and more defensive teams, be wary of Diancie's PP, especially with Heal Bell. When using Toxic, it may be better to simply double switch if the opponent has a Steel type, as this Diancie set has no way of getting past them. Recommended Teammates: Defensive variants of Arceus-Ghost work well, as it can check Steel and Ground types with Will-o-Wisp and Judgement while Diancie provides it with cleric support and can check Ho-oh and Yveltal. Latias can check both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre for Diancie, while Diancie can check Yveltal and provide it with cleric support. Steel types appreciate Diancie's ability to check Ho-oh and also compliment Diancie's typing defensively. Specially Defensive Primal Groudon, Dialga, and Palkia can compliment Diancie, as they easily check Steel types and Primal Kyogre, both of which pose a problem for Diancie. Primal Groudon and Dialga can also set up Stealth Rock, while Dialga and Palkia can both check formes of Arceus running Calm Mind. ORAS OU Singles Moveset: Non-Mega Trick Room Ability: Clear Body / Item: @Life Orb Nature: Brave w/ EVs: 248 HP / 252 Attack / 8 Defense IV Spread: 31/31/31/XX/31/0 Move #1: Stealth Rock Move #2: Trick Room Move #3: Diamond Storm Move #4: Explosion Tips: Stealth Rock provides massive team support, and Diancie is a good choice as it tends to deter many Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock, often forcing them out and getting a free opportunity to set up. Using Diancie as a Stealth Rock setter also pairs extremely well with Explosion, for reasons listed below. Diancie is a good setter of Trick Room, as it is the only Ubers-viable user of Trick Room that is not threatened by Ho-oh or Yveltal, of which it can also abuse due to its poor base 50 Speed. Diamond Storm is Diancie's primary STAB, smacking many flying types including Ho-oh, Yveltal, Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, and Lugia. Explosion pairs well with Stealth Rock, Trick Room and Diancie's low speed. Although Diancie sacrifices itself in the process, it generates a huge amount of offensive momentum, not only allowing a safe switch for a teammate, but can also prevent the use of Defog and Rapid Spin on the turn it is used due to the opponent no longer having a target to use Defog/Rapid Spin against, allowing Diancie's Stealth Rocks to stay up for another turn. 248 HP EVs aim to make Diancie as bulky as possible due to its poor 50 base HP. 252 Attack EVs with a Brave nature maximizes Diancie's Attack while minimizing its Speed when used with a 0 Speed IV, allowing it to become as fast as possible while under Trick Room. Life Orb is used to further augment Diancie's damage output, and the recoil becomes a non-issue when Diancie will often be going out with a literal bang. Not many people expect Diancie as a Trick Room setter in Ubers, so this set does have some surprise value. Even with Trick Room set up, Diancie is still threatened by Steel types. If the opponent is carrying a Ghost type, such as Arceus-Ghost, Mega Gengar, or Origin Giratina, it may be wise to hold off on using Explosion once your moveset is revealed. While this set can still check Ho-oh, it does not like being burned since all of its attacks are physical. Recommended Teammates: As a Trick Room setter, Diancie obviously pairs well with slow, bulky, and powerful attackers. Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Ho-oh, Dialga, Palkia, Ferrothorn, and Aegislash are common examples. Take note that in order to fully utilize Trick Room with these Pokemon that you will want to ensure that they have -Speed natures such as Brave and Quiet, with no EV investment in Speed and a Speed IV of 0 or 1 depending on if your Pokemon needs a specific Hidden Power type. Of these Pokemon, Primal Groudon, Dialga, and Palkia stand out as checks to Primal Kyogre. Although it cannot take advantage of Trick Room due to its 120 base Speed, Arceus-Ghost is still a notable teammate due to its ability to handle Steel types, which Diancie checks Dark types for it. Singles Ubers Checks and Counters to Diancie Steels are the bane of Diancie's existence, exploiting Diancie's 4x weakness to an otherwise poor offensive type while resisting both of Diancie's STAB moves, while many are also great defensively and will wall Diancie if it lacks the appropriate coverage move. Dialga is the most notable, while other viable Steel types include Klefki, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Genesect, Skarmory, Aegislash, Jirachi, Mega Scizor, and Mega Metagross. In a similar vein, Ground types can also abuse Diancie's Ground weakness while not minding Diamond Storm. Primal Groudon and Arceus-Ground are the most notable, as the former resists Moonblast while the latter naturally outspeeds Mega Diancie. Primal Groudon and Excadrill, however, are vulnerable to Earth Power, while neither Primal Groudon nor Defensive variants of Arceus-Ground will enjoy Toxic. Sky Shaymin outspeeds Mega Diancie and KOs with Seed Flare, but cannot safely switch in. Likewise, Choice Scarf Zekrom can still revenge kill Mega Diancie, but fears switching in to Moonblast. Kyogre, especially Primal Kyogre, can easily dispatch Diancie with Rain boosted Origin Pulse regardless of whether or not it Mega Evolves, while still having enough bulk to easily stomach any of Mega Diancie's attacks. Most Arceus formes that run Calm Mind, with the exception of Arceus-Dark, can take on Diancie without much worry. Arceus-Rock and Arceus-Fairy can afford to run Refresh on their movesets, which will make Toxic useless, other formes will be crippled by Toxic as they cannot afford to run Refresh on their limited moveset. Doubles OU Overview ORAS Doubles OU Viability: Tier 3 ORAS Doubles OU Viability: Tier 1 What Pokemon could be so metagame defining that it could render Tyranitar, a notable threat in X&Y Doubles, completely and utterly unviable? Yeah, Mega Diancie. Having a great offensive typing and Rock type spread move that puts Rock Slide to shame, coverage options in STAB Moonblast and Earth Power, nice 160/160/110 base offensive stats, and virtual immunity to status thanks to Magic Bounce, it's not hard to see why Mega Diancie is such a defining threat in Doubles. On the opposite side of the speed spectrum, normal Diancie is no slouch as it still serves as an effective Trick Room setter, while still maintaining its Mega Evolution's coverage options and compensating for the lack of its Mega's boosted offense stats by being just bulky enough to make an effective user of Weakness Policy. However, Diancie, Mega Evolved or not, is not without its flaws. Because it runs Diamond Storm, it has to invest its EVs to suit a mixed attacker spread, so it often fails to achieve OHKOs without support. It also has several common weaknesses, most notably to Ground and Water. Initimidate also hampers Mega Diancie's damage output, but this is not an issue for normal Diancie due to Clear Body. ORAS OU Doubles Moveset: Mega Mixed Attacker Ability: Clear Body (Magic Bounce) / Item: @Diancite Nature: Hasty w/ EVs: 208 Attack / 48 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed Move #1: Diamond Storm Move #2: Moonblast Move #3: Earth Power Move #4: Protect Tips: Diamond Storm is Diancie's primary STAB, and is essentially a buffed version of Rock Slide that hits both opponents for 75 Base Power each (as opposed to Rock Slide's 56.25 Base Power per target), sporting great coverage in Doubles. Moonblast is Mega Diancie's secondary STAB, hitting most non-Steel targets that resist Diamond Storm. Earth Power is for Steel types, who otherwise resist both of Diancie's STAB attacks. Protect is a staple move of nearly all Doubles Pokemon, allowing Diancie to scout the opponent and stall out unfavorable field conditions, as well as allowing it to safely Mega Evolve. Full Speed investment with a Hasty nature allows Mega Diancie to outspeed Keldeo and Terrakion while speed tying with Latios and Mega Metagross. Hasty is chosen over Timid and Jolly so as to not affect Mega Diancie's mixed attacking capabilities, and is chosen over Naive as the Defense boosts from Diamond Storm can easily patch up the missing Defense from Hasty. 48 Sp.Attack EVs allow Mega Diancie's Earth Power to KO Bisharp and any Heatran lacking Shuca Berry. The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack in order to maximize Diamond Storm's damage output. Protect should almost always be used on the first turn Diancie is out so that it can Mega Evolve without any hassles. After Mega Evolving, Protect can be used if Diancie's partner can put the opponents into KO range for Diamond Storm. Diamond Storm is the move Diancie will be using most often, and is easily spammable in the late game. While Mega Evolving is your first priority, there are two situations where delaying the Mega Evolution is preferred; when facing Trick Room, and when facing teams with Intimidate users. Recommended Teammates: Landorus-Therian is a large threat to any Doubles team, especially when Choice Scarf variants outspeed Mega Diancie, cut into its Attack with Intimidate, and threaten to KO with STAB Earthquake. Bisharp and Choice Scarf variants of Black Kyurem can alleviate this problem, with the former gaining a net +1 Attack boost from Intimidate while smacking it with priority Sucker Punch, while the latter outspeeds and OHKOs with Ice Beam. Diancie is threatened by Earthquake, so Aegislash and Scrafty can assist Diancie by blocking Earthquake with Wide Guard. The latter can also provide additional support with Fake Out and Intimidate. Landorus-Therian and Rotom-Heat can eliminate Steel types that give Diancie problems with their STAB moves. Cresselia and Politoed both offer Helping Hand support, which further bolsters Diamond Storm's damage output. In regards to Politoed, Mega Diancie fits well on rain teams in general due to its ability to check Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame, who otherwise threaten the playstyle. Sky Shaymin synergizes well with Mega Diancie; Sky Shaymin takes care of bulky Water types that Diancie has problems with, while Diancie covers Sky Shaymin's Fire and Ice weaknesses. Redirection support from Amoonguss, Jirachi, and Volcarona can all help Jirachi avoid attacks aimed at it that would KO. Amoonguss, for instance, redirects Azumarill's Aqua Jet and Ludicolo's Hydro Pump in the rain, while Jirachi and Volcarona can redirect away Steel type attacks from Aegislash and Mega Metagross. Tailwind can help Mega Diancie outspeed some of its faster checks, such as Choice Scarf users, Ludicolo in rain, and Venusaur in sun, while also allowing Mega Diancie to hold its footing against an opponent's Tailwind. Hydreigon, Latios, Talonflame, and Suicune are all viable users of the move. ORAS OU Doubles Moveset: Non-Mega Trick Room Ability: Clear Body / Item: @Weakness Policy Nature: Quiet w/ EVs: 192 HP / 108 Attack / 208 Sp.Attack IV Spread: 31/31/31/31/31/0 Move #1: Trick Room Move #2: Diamond Storm Move #3: Moonblast Move #4: Protect Tips: Trick Room is the name of the set, and allows Diancie to support its team by reversing turn orders based on speed for the next 4 turns. Diamond Storm is Diancie's primary STAB, and is essentially a buffed version of Rock Slide that hits both opponents for 75 Base Power each (as opposed to Rock Slide's 56.25 Base Power per target), sporting great coverage in Doubles. Moonblast is Mega Diancie's secondary STAB, hitting most non-Steel targets that resist Diamond Storm and barging through Scrafty who attempt to block Diamond Storm with Wide Guard. Protect is a staple move of nearly all Doubles Pokemon, allowing Diancie to scout the opponent and stall out unfavorable field conditions, as well as buying Diancie an extra turn with its partner eliminates an opponent's threat. 192 EVs in HP are used specifically to allow Diancie to survive Mega Charizard Y's Solarbeam and Landorus-Therian's Earthquake, both of which can be taken advantage of with Weakness Policy, OHKOing the latter back with a +2 Moonblast with 208 Sp.Attack EVs and a Quiet nature. The remaining EVs are put into Attack, giving it enough to OHKO Rotom-Heat with Diamond Storm after +2. As with most Trick Room setters and attackers, Quiet nature with 0 EV investment and a Speed IV of 0 aim to make Diancie as slow as possible so that it can abuse Trick Room to its fullest extent. This set works on both full Trick Room teams and semi-Trick Room teams, though requires more support than other Trick Room setters due to its common weaknesses. Your first priority with this set should be to set up Trick Room, so that Diancie can strike first against most targets. Even with Weakness Policy, you will still want to scout for powerful attacks with Protect, especially in situations where Diancie cannot make use of the +2 boosts to both of its attacking stats. Most of the time you will be spamming Diamond Storm, unless you need to remove a specific threat immediately, which you will be using Moonblast in these cases as it deals more damage against a single target. Because of its bulk and resistances to Fire and Dark, these are usually the best times to bring Diancie in, especially in cases where getting a Weakness Policy boost would be too risky. Recommended Teammates: Pokemon that can make use of Trick Room make for great teammates. Naturally, these tend to be slow, hard hitting Pokemon such as Aegislash, Bisharp, Mega Abomasnow, Azumarill, Mega Camerupt, and Sylveon. Fire type teammates can handle the Steel types that give Diancie problems. Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, Talonflame, Mega Camerupt, Blaziken, Rotom-Heat, and Volcarona are all common examples. Although not a Fire type, Scrafty also works for breaking down Steels, as Scrafty can also take advantage of Trick Room while using Fake Out to give Diancie an opportunity to set up Trick Room. Doubles OU Checks and Counters to Diancie Steels are the bane of Diancie's existence, exploiting Diancie's 4x weakness to an otherwise poor offensive type while resisting both Diamond Storm and Moonblast. Aegislash is the most notable as it can block Diamond Storm entirely with Wide Guard. Mega Metagross, Heatran, Jirachi, and Ferrothorn can also give Diancie a hard time, though Heatran must be careful of Earth Power unless it runs Shuca Berry. Bulky Water types generally have no problems with Diancie. Azumarill and Ludicolo can both revenge kill with Aqua Jet and Swift Swim, respectively, though only Azumarill will be able to revenge kill Trick Room variants. Landorus-Therian and other Intimidate users can quickly put a stop to Diancie's Diamond Storm spamming once it has Mega Evolved, but will fail to stop Trick Room variants due to Clear Body. Against Mega Diancie, fast Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian, Sky Shaymin, Choice Scarf Genesect, Ludicolo in rain, and Venusaur in sun can outspeed Mega Diancie and KO, but most cannot switch in safely. Against normal Diancie, Pokemon that can underspeed Diancie will naturally be able to outspeed it once Trick Room is set up. Amoonguss is the most notable, being able to redirect its Moonblasts or disabling it entirely with Spore. Mega Camerupt is a more offensive alternative that still underspeeds Diancie while threatening it with Earth Power. Tailwind() and Trick Room () Mega Diancie will be hard pressed to outspeed Pokemon under the effects of Tailwind or Trick Room. Naturally, Trick Room normal Diancie doesn't care about Tailwind, but opposing Trick Room setters on semi-Trick Room teams can negate Diancie's own Trick Room, allowing their faster teammates to outspeed Diancie. A unique form of Speed control, Sableye can force both variants of Diancie to move last with Quash, allowing a slower teammate to score a KO, but must watch out for Moonblast. Trick Room normal Diancie will be hard pressed to set up Trick Room in the face of opposing Fake Out users, as they will disrupt Diancie's attempts at making them slower. Naturally, this can be played around with Protect or with adequate support. External Links Smogon Analysis (Singles OU) Smogon Analysis (Singles Ubers) Smogon Analysis (Doubles OU, Part 1) Smogon Analysis (Doubles OU, Part 2)

UU Singles update Additions None Rises : A- -> A : B -> A- : B -> B+ : B -> B+ Drops None Removals None

You were, once upon a time ago. And you were from MFG originally.

OU Singles update Additions Added to D: Rises : A -> A+ : A- -> A : B+ -> A- : B -> B+ : B- -> B : B- -> B : B- -> B : B- -> B : C+ -> B- : C+ -> B- : C -> B- : C- -> C Drops None Removals None

Back to the topic of Aegislash's potential return to OU; It seems now that the Aegislash suspect test now has three options; Keep Aegislash banned from OU Unban Aegislash from OU, but ban King's Shield from OU Unban Aegislash from OU in its entirety. The new 2nd option appears to be stemming from the argument that part of Aegislash's initial ban was due to the fact that it forces 50/50 scenarios that more or less make over half of the current Pokemon in OU unviable.

First of all, welcome to the request section. Due to recent circumstances, we feel that it is necessary to reiterate some ground rules. None of these rules are new by any means, but should have been heavily implied. That being said, in addition to the standard MFFA rules, the following also apply here; Before posting, try to find the creation yourself first Common search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Duckduckgo, etc.) are your friend when it comes to this. Even then, there are plenty of other Mugen databases to use (Mugen Fighter's Guild Database, The Mugen Database Wiki, MFFA's Collection Threads, etc). Only request existing creations This cannot be stressed enough. You must make sure that the creation you are requesting actually exists. If you are unsure if a creation exists or not, use the DO NOT USE THIS SECTION TO REQUEST PEOPLE TO MAKE CREATIONS FOR YOU OR YOU WILL BE INFRACTED. Be as specific as possible in your request Include the creation name and author name if possible. Again, if you are unsure of who the author is, use the Do not request warez/ROMs/ISOs/etc In regards to requesting something that isn't a MUGEN creation, do not request warez or any other blatantly illegal content. This includes, but is not limited to; ROMs, ISOs, commercially released game soundtracks (OSTs/GSTs), commercially released games, commercially released software, cracks, keygens, product keys, or any torrent files allowing you obtain any of the above. In other words, if it's something that you normally have to pay for in order to obtain, do not request illegal copies of it. Failure to abide by this rule will result in your post being deleted and an infraction on your account.

How fitting

Mega Camerupt and Typhlosion are now banned from NU

After careful consideration I decided to decrease the time limit for all future Ask questions from 7 days to 4 days. For the sake of fairness, Fael can continue to answer questions for the next 2 days if he so chooses to.

So the winner of the 4/20 voting was Diancie with... 1 vote. I can already tell where this is going.

Tier rotation time. This vote was a close one, as the Ubers vote was a tie. As a result, the next two PotW for Ubers are queued. Let is start with the one who shows up earlier in the Pokedex while we still have... time. Dialga Tier Status (Singles): Ubers Tier Status (Doubles): DUbers Type: Dragon/Steel Base Stats: 100 / 120 / 120 / 150 / 100 / 90 Abilities: Pressure: Attacks that target this Pokemon lose an additional 1 PP. Outside of battle, if this Pokemon is placed in the lead spot of the team, the Wild Pokemon encounter rate increases. Telepathy (Hidden Ability): In Double and Triple Battles, this Pokemon is immune to damaging attacks from its Ally. Has no effect in Single and Rotation Battles. Table of Contents Singles Ubers Overview Singles Ubers Overview ORAS Singles Ubers Viability: A To this day, Dialga still possesses the unique dual Dragon/Steel typing (until the inevitable Mega Dragonite but thats a different story :p). The introduction of Primal Groudon has hurt Dialga's viability, as not only does it exploit Dialga's weakness to Ground, but also mostly outclasses it as a defensive Stealth Rock setter. Dialga also lacks reliable recovery, so it is prone to being worn down over time. Despite Primal Groudon's presence, Dialga still remains one of the more reliable Stealth Rock setters in Ubers, as its vast movepool allows it to take on most of the common users of Defog, Rapid Spin, and Magic Bounce. While defensive Primal Groudon may outclass defensive Dialga, it still has a niche in that it can be used alongside Rock Polish variants of Primal Groudon. Dialga also sports enough mixed bulk, as well as nice typing, combined with 150 base Sp.Attack that allows it to remain a threat, and is one of the more reliable checks to Mega Salamence in the tier. ORAS Ubers Singles Moveset: Defensive Stealth Rock Ability: Pressure / Item: @Shuca Berry or Leftovers Nature: Calm w/ EVs: 244 HP / 252 Sp.Defense / 12 Speed Move #1: Stealth Rock Move #2: Draco Meteor Move #3: Fire Blast or Flash Cannon Move #4: Toxic, Roar, or Rest Tips: Stealth Rock is the cornerstone of this moveset, as Dialga is a very reliable setter. Draco Meteor, even with no Sp.Attack investment, will OHKO everything weak to it with the exception of Giratina and Soul Dew Latias, and will put a huge dent into anything that isn't Steel or Fairy type, making it difficult to switch in to. The third moveslot is dedicated to coverage. Fire Blast roasts the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor, while Flash Cannon takes out Mega Diancie, and is also this Dialga set's best option against Tyranitar and Arceus-Rock. The last moveslot is for additional support. Toxic is meant to cripple common switch ins to Dialga, and also pressures Arceus formes running Defog, forcing them to choose to either Defog away Dialga's Stealth Rock or remove their poison with Refresh before it builds up too much. Roar, however, can be used to phaze away setup sweepers and Shadow Tag users, preventing Dialga from being a sitting duck after using Draco Meteor. Rest is another option that gives Dialga a form of recovery, though not very reliable, as wearing Dialga down with residual damage is a common way of beating it. The given EV spread with 12 Speed EVs allows Dialga to outspeed Diancie before it Mega Evolves. The remaining EVs are dumped into HP and Sp.Defense, allowing Dialga to switch in to many dangerous special attackers, such as Primal Kyogre and the Mewtwos. Shuca Berry is the preferred item, as it allows Dialga to check Mega Salamence while simultaneously avoiding an OHKO from Primal Groudon, but leaves Dialga susceptible to being worn down over time. Leftovers can be used to mitigate this problem by providing it with passive recovery, but causes Dialga to lose its ability to check Mega Salamence. Due to Dialga's unique typing, it will find plenty of opportunities to switch in and use Stealth Rock, but will be worn down over time if not running Leftovers. If running Toxic, Dialga can afford to stay in against common Defog users, pressuring them by repeatedly setting up Stealth Rock and knocking their HP down into the red zone with the combination of Toxic and Draco Meteor. This is especially effective against the various Arceus formes that carry Defog, as they have to choose between removing Stealth Rock with Defog, removing their poison status with Refresh, keeping their HP high with Recover, or switching out to save their Defog user for later. If not running Roar, Dialga becomes susceptible to setup sweepers after it lowers its own Sp.Attack with Draco Meteor. More often than not, they will succeed in obtaining a boost as Dialga switches out. While Toxic does help mitigate this somewhat, setup sweepers that run Refresh can be very problematic. Recommended Teammates: Due to Dialga's ability to reliably setup Stealth Rock, sweepers appreciate having the residual damage wear down switch ins and make their job of KOing the opponent's team easier. Rock Polish Primal Groudon, Arceus-Normal, Arceus-Ghost, Arceus-Dark, Mega Salamence, and Geomancy Xerneas are all common setup sweepers in Ubers. Due to its Ground weakness, Pokemon with Levitate or Flying type have great defensive synergy with Dialga. Ho-oh, Lugia, Latias, Latios, and Origin Giratina are all good picks for this role, with the latter three also providing Defog support for the team. If running Fire Blast instead of Flash Cannon, Dialga finds itself walled by Mega Diancie, so answers such as Arceus-Ground and Primal Kyogre are good teammates for this reason. ORAS Ubers Singles Moveset: Offensive Ability: Pressure / Item: @Shuca Berry, Life Orb, or Adamant Orb Nature: Modest w/ EVs: 244 HP / 252 Sp.Attack / 12 Speed Move #1: Draco Meteor Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Flash Cannon Move #4: Stealth Rock, Thunder, or Stone Edge Tips: Draco Meteor will put a massive dent into everything weak to it, and will still put a huge dent into anything that isn't Steel or Fairy type, making it very difficult to switch in to. Fire Blast roasts the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor. Flash Cannon completes Dialga's coverage, KOing Mega Diancie. The last slot is used for either utility or extra coverage. Stealth Rock is the preferred choice as Dialga is a very reliable setter, which can be a huge boon to offensive teams that this set is primarily found on. Thunder, however, can be used if the team already has a Stealth Rock user, as it smacks Primal Kyogre, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Arceus-Water hard. Another option is Stone Edge, which is used primarily for Ho-oh, but should only be used if running Life Orb. Modest nature with max Sp.Attack investment allows Dialga to hit as hard as possible. 12 Speed EVs allow Dialga to outspeed Diancie on the turn that it Mega Evolves, while the rest of the EVs are placed in HP to maximize Dialga's bulk. Shuca Berry is the preferred item, as it allows Dialga to check Mega Salamence while simultaneously avoiding an OHKO from Primal Groudon. Life Orb allows Dialga to act as a wallbreaker by granting it a 30% damage increase to all of its attacks at the cost of 10% of its health, but allows it to score an OHKO on Primal Groudon with Draco Meteor. Adamant Orb is a weaker alternative over Life Orb that only affects Draco Meteor and Flash Cannon, but lacks recoil and allows Dialga to bluff another item, such as Choice Scarf. As the set name implies, this Dialga is best suited for offensive teams that need a Stealth Rock setter that can simultaneously check both Mega Diancie and Mega Salamence, or are using Pokemon that would otherwise clash with Primal Groudon as their Stealth Rock setter, such as normal Groudon, Arceus-Ground, or Rock Polish Primal Groudon. Due to Dialga's unique typing, it will find plenty of opportunities to switch in and use Stealth Rock, and its powerful STAB moves will leave a dent, if not outright KO, most users of Defog, Rapid Spin, and Magic Bounce. When facing Defog users with Recovery moves, such as Latios, Latias, and Arceus formes, be cautious when using Draco Meteor, as the Sp.Attack drop may cause Dialga to lose momentum, resulting in the opponent successfully removing your hazards. Because its bulk is weaker than the defensive set and lacks any form of recovery, it is advised to keep it healthy otherwise it will not be able to check Mega Salamence efficiently. If running Adamant Orb as Dialga's item, it may be worthwhile to lead your opponent into a false sense of security by playing this set similar to the Choice Scarf set, which is outlined below. This is possible only because Adamant Orb has no visual indicator that Dialga is holding it, unlike Life Orb or Shuca Berry. Do note however that because Dialga isn't actually running a Choice Scarf that you will not be able to outspeed the threats that the Choice Scarf set would, which may give away to your opponent that you're not actually running a Choice item. Recommended Teammates: Checks and Counters to Primal Groudon are greatly appreciated as teammates for Dialga, as Primal Groudon is especially common and Dialga will not be able to take it on by itself, especially since Primal Groudon is commonly paired with Mega Salamence. Latias, Latios, Origin Giratina, and Primal Kyogre are all great checks to the Continent Pokemon. Primal Groudon, Mega Salamence, and Rayquaza are all physical wallbreakers that can deal with specially bulky Pokemon that Dialga may have trouble against, namely Ho-oh. Furthermore, Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza can both act as sweepers with Rock Polish and Dragon Dance, respectively, which appreciate Dialga's ability to set up Stealth Rocks. Mega Salamence also has an easy time forming cores with both Primal Groudon and Rayquaza, though using three dragon types on the same team may leave you susceptible to Fairies and other Dragons. Mega Gengar is another teammate that works well with Dialga, as it can trap and remove Pokemon that can otherwise check Dialga. ORAS Ubers Singles Moveset: Choice Scarf Ability: Pressure / Item: @Choice Scarf Nature: Modest or Rash w/ EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.Attack / 252 Speed Move #1: Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse Move #2: Fire Blast Move #3: Flash Cannon Move #4: Thunder, Sleep Talk, or Outrage Tips: Draco Meteor will put a massive dent into everything weak to it, and will still put a huge dent into anything that isn't Steel or Fairy type, making it very difficult to switch in to. Dragon Pulse is an alternative that can be used if being choice locked into dropping your Sp.Attack by 2 stages every turn is unappealing, but is noticeably weaker. Fire Blast roasts the Steel types that resist Draco Meteor. Flash Cannon completes Dialga's coverage, KOing Mega Diancie. For the last slot, Thunder is used to smack Primal Kyogre, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Arceus-Water hard, as these Pokemon would otherwise be able to switch in safely against Dialga. Sleep Talk, however, can be used instead if the team needs a Pokemon that can absorb status, especially if the team needs something to handle Darkrai. Outrage is another option that is used specifically for Latios and Latias, as it allows Dialga to revenge kill Calm Mind variants. The given EV spread allows Dialga to hit as hard as possible while also being as fast as possible with a Choice Scarf. Modest/Rash natures provide Dialga with emphasis on its Sp.Attack, as it lacks any form of boosting its damage and its attacks will be noticeably weaker with any other nature. A Rash nature should only be used if running Outrage in the final moveslot, so as to not cut into Dialga's Attack stat, otherwise a Modest nature should be used. Like most Choice Scarf users, Dialga should be used as a revenge killer; bringing it in on either a safe switch or after an opponent's KO. Choice Scarf Dialga is notable as it can revenge kill Extremespeed Arceus-Normal due to its Steel typing, while outspeeding almost everything except the Deoxys formes and opposing Choice Scarf users with base 90 Speed or higher. As with any Choice Scarfed revenge killer, prediction is key to success; you have to have fairly decent prediction skills to know when the opponent will switch out to another Pokemon and what move to use that will have the least risk. For example, being Choice locked into a Draco Meteor with -2 Sp.Attack in an unfavorable matchup essentially gives the opponent a free turn to do whatever they want, as more often than not your only option will be to switch Dialga out. Recommended Teammates: Due to its Ground weakness, Pokemon with Levitate or Flying type have great defensive synergy with Dialga. Ho-oh, Lugia, Latias, Latios, and Origin Giratina are all good picks for this role, with the latter three also providing Defog support for the team. Physical attackers that can deal with specially bulky Pokemon that Dialga may have trouble against, namely Ho-oh, are appreciated. Common examples include Primal Groudon, Mega Salamence, Ho-oh, and Rayquaza. As a revenge killer, Dialga will be forcing multiple switches on the opponent, so entry hazards are recommended to take advantage of this. Primal Groudon, Klefki, the Deoxys formes, Ferrothorn, and Tyranitar are only a few examples. It should be noted that Stealth Rock also dissuades Ho-oh from switching in, who can otherwise check Dialga. Because Dialga will be switching out often after using Draco Meteor, checks and counters to Fairy types, namely Xerneas and Arceus-Fairy, help alleviate this problem, especially if Xerneas sets up Geomancy. Primal Groudon and Ho-oh are prime examples of teammates that can fulfill this role. While Ho-oh makes a good teammate for the above reasons, Ho-oh can also check any Dialga lacking Thunder. Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Mega Salamence, Arceus-Rock, Tyranitar, and Mega Diancie can all help keep Ho-oh in check. Honorable Mentions Choice Specs: Dialga can run a Choice Specs set, which turns it into a powerful wallbreaker. However, Choice Specs Dialga is easily exploitable due to its average speed. Trick Room: Due to occupying the lower end of the speed spectrum, Dialga can function as a Trick Room setter due to its great typing and coverage. If this is done, Modest and Calm natures must be replaced with Quiet and Careful natures, respectively. This also requires that the entire team be built around Trick Room, as Trick Room is not as viable of a strategy in Singles as it is in Doubles due to the former metagame's slower pace. Singles Ubers Checks and Counters to Dialga Many Arceus formes can switch in and deal with Dialga, but Arceus-Ground is perhaps the most notable as it can deal serious damage back by running either physical with Swords Dance or special with Calm Mind. Do note that Defensive Dialga can Toxic Arceus-Ground on the switch and can take a hit with Shuca Berry to revenge kill it. Most other Arceus formes, including Arceus-Ground, that run Calm Mind also run Refresh, so Defensive Dialga will be helpless if it runs Toxic instead of Roar. Primal Groudon is another hassle for Dialga to overcome, but it is possible for Dialga to survive with Shuca Berry and 2HKO with Draco Meteor, or OHKO if running Life Orb. Specially Defensive Primal Groudon can easily beat Defensive Dialga while using it to freely set up Stealth Rock. Due to Regenerator and its high Sp.Def, Ho-oh can tank any attack other than Thunder, and either force it out or whittle Dialga down with burn, as Dialga has no reliable recovery. Specially bulky Pokemon can give Dialga trouble as they can stomach most of its attacks. Lugia and Blissey are prime examples as they also sport reliable recovery, though they lack the offensive presence to do anything back to Dialga outside of chip damage. Unlike Lugia and Blissey, Primal Kyogre sports just enough offensive presence to make a dent, and also has enough Sp.Defense to stomach any attack Dialga can carry with the exception of Thunder. Even with Thunder, Dialga will fail to 2HKO Specially Defensive variants of Primal Kyogre if Dialga is not carrying a Life Orb. Aside from its Ground weakness, Dialga's Fighting type weakness is also exploitable. Mega Mewtwo X, both Blazikens, and even Mega Lucario will have no trouble getting past Dialga, as all of them will outspeed (normal Blaziken requires at least 1 Speed Boost, however) any Dialga lacking a Choice Scarf and OHKO with Low Kick, High Jump Kick, and Close Combat, respectively. External Links Smogon Analysis (Ubers Singles)

So after two new games added to the 6th Generation lineup and eight months of being banned to Ubers, Aegislash is finally being retested to see if it can come back to OU: