Smogon Tier Updates- April

        It's that time again! Smogon has updated their official tiers with the past three months' usage statistics. This means that a few things have moved up or down from their old tier listings, bringing forth an period of new, ever-changing metagames. Let's take a look at what's happening in the Smogon scene below...


        OU had no changes whatsoever, keeping the same 50 Pokemon as the last tier update. It should be noted, however, that...


        Deoxys-Dominator

        The first major, and most interesting change, of the tier listings is Deoxys-D's failure to fulfill many common beliefs and move up to the OU tier out of its own accord. It ended the three-month period with a meager 3.082% usage in OU; just .32% shy of cementing itself in the tier.

        As a result of this, the Smogonites have seen fit to extricate D-D from UU by initiating a hard ban of it to the BorderLine scene. This means that it can now no longer be used in UU, and is essentially only viable in Standard play.

        What does this mean? Well, now UU has to adapt to yet another loss of one of its most prominent wall/support Pokemon (remember Chansey?). This means that Stall in UU has taken quite the beating. Especially when you consider the next headline in this article.


        Powerhouses No Longer Rarely-Used

        With the loss of Deoxys-D, the Underused scene got a couple of other really efficient players worth noting. Namely, the offensive stars in Honchkrow, Sharpedo and Yanmega. Each of these, with their very dominant movepools and abilities, will likely hold a very high seat in UU in the coming months, blasting through what's left of the walls.

        Conversely, Gligar and Claydol were also added into the tier for Support and Defensive purposes, though each of the aforementioned Sweepers has a way around each.


        RU Offended?

        The Rarelyused has seen only one addition in this tier shift; the arrival of Mesprit, former king of NU. But where RU sees its biggest changes this time around lies in the fact that its own former king and hands-down best Spinner (Claydol) is now gone. With Gligar following suit, this opens up a whole new gate of Offense for the tier's top sweepers. Perhaps we'll be seeing a LOT more of Magneton and Galvantula now that two of the tier's most significant Ground types are no longer.

        So What's Next?
      
        For the next three months, you can expect to see a lot of new threats rise, while old ones fall longingly on their faces. With no real changes to OU this month, it becomes a bit more apparent (and satisfying) that a decently balanced metagame is being reached. It is also interesting to notice that Charizard, Ludicolo and Sawsbuck, three powerful Weather abusers, have all fallen from RU to NU, which gives them playability in just about every single tier. Let's see how these new additions/losses take effect. Feel free to post comments as to how you think these new tiers will stand out, and, as always,

Happy Battling!



**Tiers have now been effectively updated to match these results**