Full On Analysis Part 2

OU:

1. Scizor: 30.81%

Scizor remains the most used Pokemon in OU, due to its combination of powerful priority, good typing, and huge attack stat. It was about 50/50 ratio of CB Scizor's to Swords Dance Scizors, with 55% of Scizors using Choice Band, 23% using Life Orb and 13% using Leftovers. 98% used Bullet Punch, 71% used Superpower and 62% used U-Turn, moves which you should all know are fairly common to Scizor's by now. Pursuit came in at 58%, with its psuedo-STAB via Technician and Swords Dance at 38%. A small amount, at 5.3%, ran Swarm over Technician, and those contributed to the 7.1% who ran X-Scissor. PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU RUN TECHNICIAN, BUG BITE HAS A BASE POWER OF 135, AND X-SCISSOR ONLY HAS 120. ALWAYS RUN BUG BITE OVER X-SCISSOR WITH TECHNICIAN. THANK YOU.

2. Salamence: 20.95%

Salamence comes in next, a staggering 10% underneath Scizor, having risen up by 1% to claim Gyarados' spot. For those of you who wanted to ban Salamence a while ago, this is proof why he shouldn't be. 61% ran Life Orb, 11.2% ran Leftovers for some more bulky. Funnily enough, his most used move wasn't Outrage, but Earthquake, probably due to more and more running Dragon Claw, since being locked into Outrage in a format saturated with Steel is a bad idea. Dragon Dance was on 51% of them, showing the diminishing usage of MixMence in favour of DDMence. However, Fire Blast was still up there at 45%, showing Levitating Steels still aren't safe, and Draco Meteor was at 41%, to blast a hole in non-Steel physical walls. Roost came up to 21.6% usage this time, showing that bulky Mences still aren't dead yet, even though Dragonite does them better.

3. Latias: 20.36%

Latias shows the power of dragon types, coming in at third barely under Salamence. Latias was third in October as well, barely increasing usage by .3% this month, showing the relative stability of the OU usages. Most Latias ran Leftovers this month, at 34%, closely followed by the trio of Life Orb, Choice Specs and Choice Scarf, all at around 20%. Surf was the most used move, at 62%, followed by Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor both at around 50%. Calm Mind didn't come up until 32% usage, showing that even if Latias goes bulky, it still wants to be on the attack, rather than getting hit by an Outrage. Reflect barely came into it at 6%, showing the decreasing Screens in OU as well.

4. Tyranitar: 19.39%

Tyranitar, the physical monstrosity, comes in at 4th, 1% below Latias. Its usage increased by 2% this month, a relatively large amount for the OU ladder. The list of things TTar has done this month is rather large, as well. Most of them were holding Leftovers at 28.5%, but then there's Choice Band, Babiri Berry (countering Scizor like its nobody's business), and Expert Belt. Crunch was his most used move at 78.5%, followed by Stone Edge as the two obligatory STAB moves. Dragon Dance was next at 38.5%. If his third most used move is that low, you know it has a diverse movepool. Earthquake, Pursuit, Fire Punch, Flamethrower (the mighty Mixtar), Superpower... Aqua Tail is rather low at 10%, as a move I used to use quite a bit on my Tars, as it hits alot of things reliably, but the metagame has changed quite a bit, I suppose.

5. Heatran: 19.34%

Barely under Tyranitar (by 0.05%) comes Heatran, who was, at one point, the most used Pokemon in the game, even more than Garchomp. Choice Scarf was on 41% of them, followed by Leftovers on 24%. Torment didn't even appear in the moveset this time, which is disappointing as an avid fan of Tormentran. Three different Hidden Powers (Grass, Electric and Ice) appeared this time, with Grass being the most used. Earth Power was its most used move at 87%, due to indecisiveness between Fire Blast and Flamethrower. Explosion was on 56.6%, followed by the aforementioned Fire Blast. With Lava Plume and Overheat included, however, well over 100% of Heatran's had a fire move on their set, indicating some Heatran use Fire Blast and Flamethrower, or Fire Blast and Lava Plume, and so on, which I found interesting. Magma Storm didn't appear today either, which I found disappointing since its a pretty cool move...if it hits. Oh well.

6. Gyarados: 19.29%

Its interesting that, even though it only dropped usage by 1%, it dropped 4 positions on the ladder. Gyarados is the second physical sweeper so far to have Intimidate, showing just how powerful the ability is for letting things set up with Dragon Dance. Waterfall is most used at 96.7%, followed by Dragon Dance at 87%. Taunt is on 1/3 of Gyarados', as well, making Phazing more difficult, and also making rival setups impossible. RestTalk has been used a neglible amount, just under 9%, and Bounce has barely appeared at all this month, letting Breloom and Heracross reign supreme.

7. Metagross: 16.73%

3% below Gyarados, we have a physical attacker and wall who's ironically immune to Intimidate, Metagross. While diverse on the items side, running Lum Berry, Occa Berry, Leftovers and Life Orb, the movepool isn't as diverse. Earthquake is most used at 82%, followed by its signature Meteor Mash at 73%. Slightly less than half run Bullet Punch, so priority isn't always a worry, and Agigross has dropped down to 23.7% of Metagross, so most of them will either be Leads, or just flat out sweepers. 5.8% do run Trick, however, so watch out, because every now and again you'll face a Scarfed TrickGross.

8. Jirachi: 16.20%

Just beneath Metagross we have the third Steel type in the top 10, Jirachi, who's moved up 3% since October. The Wish Giver is certainly quite diverse movepool wise, with Iron Head being the most used at 73.5% and everything being in the 30s from there. U-Turn sets at 40%, Fire Punch 39%, Trick 31% (what was once the signature Jirachi, Scarfed TrickRachi) and Wish at 23.7%. Scarfs are on 48% of Jirachis, so its a good idea to use priority or something durable to take it out. Thunder Wave is on 12.6% of Jirachis, as well, so there's a small chance of a paraflinch Jirachi making you ragequit.

9. Lucario: 15.46%

My ex-girlfriend's favourite Pokemon, Lucario, is well known for its diversity, due to having equal attack stats and a nice movepool. However, a large majority of Lucarios are going Swords Dance, so that unpredictability in random ladder matches is mostly non-existance. Close Combat is on 86.3%, Extremespeed 80% and Swords Dance 72%. The first special move in the list is Aura Sphere at 12.6%, so its a fairly safe bet to switch in a physical wall and hope for the best. However, adding Bullet Punch and Vacuum Wave to Extremespeed and you get quite a high percent with priority moves, so a faster sweeper may not always do the job. However, with Bullet Punch's low percent of usage, Gengar with HP-Fire should do the job fairly well, but if it doesn't OHKO, Crunch is up there at 60%. So, really, even without taking special into account, Lucario is a dangerous beast, and you have to remember, once you move up the ladder, you'll face players who know how to better take advantage of him.

10. Infernape: 14.52%

Although Infernape has dropped in usage since October, he's still rounding out the top 10. Infernape remains one of the best wallbreakers in OU, with very little able to wall him consistently. Close Combat is on 85% of Infernapes for huge STAB damage, hitting almost everything in the format, and not really making Infernape too much more frail, since most faster things will already kill him. Grass Knot is second most used at 43%, letting Infernape get past water types, namely arch-nemesis Swampert. Nasty Plot dropped 3%, relegating it to the realm of obscurity in random ladder battles, which is a shame since Nasty Plot plus Close Combat lets Infernape destroy entire teams easily. U-Turn's risen slightly but still remains low at 17.1%, which is also interesting since it lets Infernape get a nice escape and still get damage against some of his counters.

11. Gengar: 13.82%

Once upon a time, when Garchomp was lord of the lands, the only one who could challenge his usage was a little quick ghost named Gengar. Then DPP came out, destroyed Hypnosis and Gengar's usage slowly dropped, leaving him 11th from his undisputed place of second. Most used item is Life Orb at 37.7%, taking Scarf's spot on Gengar. Interesting, Specs is under 'Other', even though Gengar is fast enough and powerful enough to use them to dent things pretty well. Shadow Ball is the most used attack, on 96.3% of Gengar sets, followed by Thunderbolt and Focus Blast. Trick is all the way down at 12.5% (I'm proud to be one of those users), and Destiny Bond is at 18%, despite the fact Gengar is fast enough to use both to cripple sweepers. Hypnosis is on 12.6% of sets still, showing 60% accuracy is still usable. A very weird portion used Sludge Bomb at 6%, but really, don't use Sludge Bomb. Definitely not in OU, because then you'll get Pursuited by a Scizor.

12. Swampert: 12.88%

Now the mudfish comes out to play, with his great typing and base stats. Leftovers was the only item even really considered this time, on 90% of Swamperts, along with Earthquake (also on 90%). Stealth Rock was second most used, at 67%, followed by Ice Beam. Waterfall was interestingly only 32% of sets, and Sleep Talk didn't even make the list, showing Swampert was mostly just an aggressor and not a setup. Curse was on 11.6%, just under Avalanche's 11.7%, showing Cursepert is still alive, even if inferior to Curselax.

13. Rotom-H: 12.68%

Even though the Rotom forms get their tier list placing as if they were one Pokemon, I don't feel it'd be right to analyze them as one. So, here's the most used, and for good reason, the Oven (it was originally going to be a Toaster, but alas, it was not to be). Shadow Ball was the most used at 82.3%, followed by Thunderbolt and Overheat. Overheat only being on 67% intrigues me, as it shows that Rotom-H is the 'go-to' Rotom, as bluffing Overheat is more powerful than bluffing Air Slash. Trick remains high up there at 42%, to go with the 42% with Scarves. 3% had Specs, and 54.7% had Leftovers, however. Sleep Talk was interestingly high at 10%, although I would've thought Rotom-H was too fragile to RestTalk. Will-o-Wisp also remains a threat to physical sweepers, on 40% of Rotom-Hs.

14. Blissey: 12.18%

Blissey is still the most used special wall, as not many Latias are EVd to wall, probably due to its low health and lack of Soul Dew. Softboiled (!) is the most used move at 62%, followed by Seismic Toss and Toxic, which remains more popular than Thunder Wave, which I find interesting due to there being more Steels than Ground. Wish remains more popular than Aromatherapy, by 8%, with Wish sitting at 38%. 5.5% think they can get away with Counter, despite the lack of Focus Sashes, with the only item being Leftovers at 100%. Stealth Rock is also sitting on 15%, even though you all know there's someone on your team who could do it better. 3.8% used Serene Grace, possibly because they forgot to change, possibly to Parahax with Thunderbolt to attack and Thunder Wave, who knows. Not too many people bother statusing Blissey, so it is potentially useful to bluff Natural Cure.

15. Azelf: 11.37%

The first of the 'faeries', and the only OU one, Azelf comes along. Still number 1 lead, the most used moves were Stealth Rock at 65%, Explosion also at 65% and Psychic at 52.6%. People tend to overlook the fact that, not only is Azelf fast and a good lead, it also has bloody good attack and special attack. Nasty Plot saw play on a measly 10% of teams, which really would be better if more teams were running other leads and ran Azelf as a sweeper instead, but oh well. 17% of Azelfs were also Dual Screening with Light Clay, but the majority held a Sash. However, 11.5% had Trick and a Choice Scarf, which was the one thing Alakazam had over Azelf and it just took it away. Damn you Azelf!

16. Starmie: 11.07%

Starmie, though dropped a place, has had fairly stable usage for a while. Natural Cure + fast + high special attack does a good sweeper make. Thunderbolt, Surf and Ice Beam were the most common moves, all at over 60%, with Thunderbolt peaking at 84%. Next up was Rapid Spin at 55%, which is always a useful support move. Recover was there on 43% of Starmies to keep them alive from Life Orb recoil, and Trick was there on a measly 10.4%, so your Blissey probably isn't going to get a new Scarf from Starmie anytime soon. Its interesting that Scarf is more common than Specs on such a fast Pokemon, which would make Starmie's reasonable Special Attack capable of denting anything, but I suppose with more and more Scarfed Pokemon, base speed doesn't mean much.

17. Gliscor: 10.85%

Gliscor, a.k.a. Metaknight, is one of the best leads in OU at the moment in my opinion, but usage disagrees with me, having him down at 12th in Leads usage. 75% had Leftovers, but 10% had a Yache Berry, to counter Gliscor's obvious 4x Ice weakness. Earthquake (86%), Roost (70%), Taunt (51%) and Stealth Rock (35.5%) were his most used moves, which, if you haven't noticed, are all PERFECT MOVES FOR A LEAD. Oh well. Swords Dance appears to be the move of choice for Baton Passing, with Rock Polish down at 10% and SD sitting on 26%, but to be fair, Baton Pass itself is only on 18%, so some of those Swords Dancers are for sweeping with Gliscor. 63% had Sand Veil, which works well due to the large number of TTars, even if you don't have one, and 36% had Hyper Cutter, to prevent actual hazing and Intimidate.

18. Vaporeon: 8.90%

I was there when Wishporeon was barely used, relegated to the UU metagame and nobody liked it for some reason, when I said to a friend of mine named Charles one day, 'why not use Vaporeon with Wish instead of Blissey?' And now everyone uses it, and this saddens me. Well, clearly not everyone, if its only at 8.9%, but still. Surf and Wish are the most common two, at 90% and 85% respectively, then followed by Protect at 70%, both for scouting and the mighty Wish-Protect combo that makes Vaporeon such a great and annoying staller. Vaporeon's use as a Wishpasser and Acid Armor passer is still there, with BP on 13% and Acid Armour on 10%. Aqua Ring was also there on 6%, as a rather odd stall choice, but I suppose it could work.

19. Machamp: 8.56%

The king of the ring comes up next, having lost its 18th spot to Vaporeon. As one of the most brutal physical attackers ever to be in the game with its STAB No-Guard DynamicPunch, with the brutal move on 92% of sets. 66.2% of sets had Leftovers, but 18% had a Lum Berry to prevent Will-o-Wisp doing the only thing Machamp can do, really. Payback was his next most used move at 62%, taking advantage of how slow Machamp is to hit like a truck against Ghosts. 28% of Machamps were also RestTalkers, letting him Dynamicpunch everything, or alternatively take advantage of Guts. 91% had No Guard, while 9% had Guts, showing that at least some of the RestTalkers continued to Dynamicpunch. 13% of the other Machamps were Bulk Up, though I'm not sure Machamp has the Defence to really take advantage of it.

20. Magnezone: 8.46%

Just a touch under Machamp and rounding out the top 20, we have the anti-Steel, Magnezone. Built to switch in on Scizors locked on bullet punch. A small few forgot to change abilities and left it on Sturdy (A HINT FOR THE UPCOMING OHKO CLAUSE TEST?') but every other Magnezone had its Magnet Pull. Thunderbolt was his most used move, on 95% of Magnezone (really, why wouldn't you have it?), followed by Explosion and HP-Fire, both near 50%. Since his target of choice has changed from Metagross and Heatran to Scizor, Magnet Rise has dropped in usage to 27% from back when Metagross and Heatran were the most used Steels and Magnezone feared Earthquake and Earth Power. Charge Beam was a weird buff choice on 6% of Zones, since a Charge Beam and a +1 Charge Beam do less damage than a +1 Thunderbolt, but whatever, it works sometimes, I guess.

Now onto other interesting usages in OU:

48. Heracross: 3.35%

Heracross' usage dropping to 3.35% is a bad sign for the next tier change, since he's been on a downward spiral and showing no signs of recovering. As such, if this continues, by the next tier change, Heracross will hit UU status. If you care, 40% were Scarfed, and 96% had Megahorn on their set. A few were Flame Orb-Guts-Swords Dance, hitting like a truck with Facade, but most were standard Choiceacross.

50. Umbreon: 3.07%

Just under Heracross and Rotom-C (who's at no worry of falling into UU), we have Umbreon, who's been sitting on the precipice of OU for quite some time, but has always been just under it. Umbreon's gone up from 2.87% in October, meaning its getting closer and closer, and may be able to jump in when Heracross falls if it gets another spike in interest. If you care, its main moves are Wish (63%), Baton Pass (52%) and Mean Look (44%). Curse is its most dangerous weapon with Mean Look, however, letting it set up however much it wants on, say, a Blissey.

55. Ludicolo: 2.37%

The guy manages 2.37% WITHOUT Manaphy in the format. If Manaphy does hit the format, Ludicolo is a full proof counter for it, with a 4x resistance to Manaphy's STAB, and neutral to its two other common moves, BoltBeam. Plus, RainRest Manaphy gets outrun by a Swift Swim Ludicolo, who can easily kill Manaphy with a mighty Energy Ball. So, basically, if Manaphy becomes OU, expect Ludicolo to hit OU as well.

360. Kakuna: 0.00% (used 27 times)

For those of you who haven't looked through every NFE page, Kakuna has his own moveset page here: http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/kakuna presumably written by The Kakuna Guy, the greatest of Kakuna users. The most used item was Choice Band this month, at 21%, followed by Metronome and Black Sludge, both at 17.4%. All Kakunas had Poison Shot and Iron Defense, but they really varied after that. with 87% using String Shot, 86.2% using Bug Bite and 30% using Harden. Clearly, Harden's a bit lacking in the defence area. Interestingly, however, no Kakuna ran any SpDef EVs. Interesting choice, but I think it really needs some there.

I'll try to get UU done tonight. If I can't, it'll be up tomorrow.