Metagame - SV OU Metagame Discussion v4 [OLT CYCLE 3] (2024)

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Moon is a hot topic currently and I want to throw my hat in the ringer.

I’ve already made a post about it here months ago but most of what I said is still relevant to my current thoughts.

Roaring Moon isn’t an issue imo. It’s relatively one-dimensional about what it sets out to do. There’s DD 3atks and DD Taunt, along with the occasional CB Moon Sun. Exotic posted a really cool Moon spread that aims to hit harder and tank more hits, but it seems to have its own issues such as needing Webs and being outpaced by max Speed Lando, Kyurem, and Wogre. Still, kudos to Exotic for his innovations.

Without Volc, Moon has less setup opportunities, with most of the tier threatening to kill or cripple. Even its best setup opportunities like Glowking or Ghold can threaten with status.

While Moon has few hard checks, it can be handled with different team compositions like Lando + Raging Bolt, Corv + Weav, Gliscor + Gambit, Ting-Lu + Tinkaton, etc. Unlike with Volc, you only had to guess two sets and they reveal themselves quickly.

Just to list the Moon counterplay for a sec.

View attachment 631033Lando always lives a DD-boosted hit. It chips Moon with U-Turn and Helmet to put it in range of priority like Sucker, Clap, E-Speed, etc. Lando also can tech Rock Tomb/Stone Edge to check it on its own.

View attachment 631020Gliscor gets off a Toxic vs non-Taunt variants. Like Lando, it can U-Turn into something like Weavile.

View attachment 631022R-Bolt can Tera Fairy into an incoming EQ. It checks Taunt DD very nicely. It also punishes Tera Flying with Thunderclap. Even Adamant Knock doesn’t scratch this.

+1 252+ Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Knock Off vs. 64 HP / 28 Def Raging Bolt: 250-295 (61.4 - 72.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

View attachment 631023Zama can Tera Steel and Roar the Roaring Moon out. Defensive Tera is not usually an argument, but with something that only fits on HO, I think its fair. Specially since it doesn’t hinder Zama much. Mirror Herb Zama also completely destroys this.

View attachment 631024Mola can fish for burns or pivot into R-Bolt, Weavile, Lando, Dnite, or Gambit. Not actually that reliable.

View attachment 631025One player used Dtail Dnite as a Moon check and it worked well. Even outside that, Dnite 2HKOs with Ice Spinner + E-Speed, or two Tera Normal E-Speeds. Depending on the matchup, trading Multiscale away to handle Moon should be fine. Just be mindful about the rare Tera Ghost.

View attachment 631026PhysD Garg can trade with Moon or 1v1 with Tera Fairy. Pre-Tera Garg also lives a +1 EQ after rocks.

+1 252 Atk Protosynthesis Tera Flying Roaring Moon Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 176+ Def Garganacl: 282-334 (69.8 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery

It also does well into DD Taunt.

View attachment 631027Ting-Lu can Whirlwind non-Taunt variants out or chip it in range of priority with Ruination.

View attachment 631028Weavile doesn’t eat a +1 hit, but it can rkill it after Moon gets chipped into range which isn’t hard to do in a game-to-game basis.

View attachment 631029Perhaps the closest to being a hard check. Living a hit at full and either threatening to cripple with T-Wave or Sticky Barb.

View attachment 631030Corv can live a hit and chip with RH + U-Turn for its teammates.

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. Skarm beats non-Taunt variants.

View attachment 631032It doesn’t live a +1 Knock, nor does it like to switch in, but it can rkill with Bullet Punch. CB Tera Steel BP also outright kills this after a bit of chip.

252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Tera Steel Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Roaring Moon: 286-338 (81.4 - 96.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

View attachment 631034View attachment 631035Ditch the old Zapdos spread. Go full-out with physical bulk since you avoid a 2HKO from Tusk Ice Spinner anyways and it has far more benefits like avoiding an OHKO from +2 Tera Dark Val and more importantly, living a +1 Knock from Moon.

+1 252 Atk Protosynthesis Roaring Moon Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 261-307 (67.9 - 79.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Though you lose Boots, Zapdos can trade with Moon to get off a T-Wave or lucky Static proc. For Taunt Moon you can always run Discharge which can still land consistent paralysis.

Moltres is the same except burns are much more damaging to Moon.

+1 252 Atk Protosynthesis Tera Flying Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 248+ Def Moltres: 285-336 (74.4 - 87.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

View attachment 631038Vs non-Taunt variants, G-Weez does well into it if you opt to run Levitate. It eats any +1 hit and threatens with Wisp.

View attachment 631039Tankchomp is pretty unexplored in the meta. RH + Rough Skin punishes physical attackers or U-Turn spam all while providing Spikes and a phazer to the team. Basically a faster more physically-oriented Ting-Lu with a free Helmet. Chomp also outright checks Moon, always tanking a +1 hit and Dtailing it out.

+1 252 Atk Protosynthesis Tera Flying Roaring Moon Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 216+ Def Garchomp: 282-333 (67.1 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after 1 layer of Spikes

I am actually curious about Adamant Moon though. What does it OHKO or 2HKO that Jolly doesn’t?